WASHINGTON/BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Former Colombian finance minister Jose Antonio Ocampo yesterday withdrew his candidacy for World Bank president, leaving two candidates in a race that he said had turned highly political.
With the World Bank board meeting on Monday to pick a new president, Ocampo said he hoped emerging market nations would rally behind one candidate, Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
Okonjo-Iweala is now the sole candidate from developing nations in a race against U.S. nominee Jim Yong Kim, a Korean-American health expert who appears almost certain to win the post.
Ocampo said his candidacy had been “handicapped” by a lack of support from his own country.
“It is clear that the process is shifting from a strict merit-based competition, in which my candidacy stood on strong grounds, into a more political-oriented exercise,” he said in a statement. “In this process, I stand on weaker grounds due to the lack of open support from the government of my home country, Colombia,” he added.
Ocampo said he did not believe the selection process had been fully open, transparent and merit-based, but it had established a strong precedent for future elections.
However, Ocampo’s decision to leave the race does not mean all developing countries will support Okonjo-Iweala in a straw poll on Monday when the World Bank board tries to find consensus on a successor to Robert Zoellick, who is departing in June.
Indeed, the promise of a united front from emerging markets evaporated on Friday when Russia said it would support Kim, becoming the first major emerging economy to do so.
“Taking into account Mr. Kim’s considerable professional qualities as well as his experience and knowledge, the Russian Federation will support the candidacy of Jim Yong Kim during the voting by the bank’s board of directors,” the Russian Finance Ministry said in a statement.
