Friday, March 27

Round 2 for IAEA elections

The IAEA has failed to elect a new Director-General for the agency to take charge after Mohamed ElBaradei's term ends in Nov 2009. According to AP the Board of Directors did not support any of the candidates with the required 2/3rd majority. This means there will have to be a new round of elections with fresh candidates in the coming months.

I personally liked ElBaradei's term during which he proved to be a strong and independent head of a sensitive organization. I have written about him and the elections before. With Iran's nuclear program continuing at full speed and the visible surge in nuclear energy deals since the Indo-US agreement, it is important that the IAEA elects an objective Director-General. The demand for nuclear energy capacity is only going to increase in the coming years and an efficient IAEA is essential to ensure non-proliferation. We need someone who can factually evaluate and report, rather than be a puppet in the hands of either of the nuclear powers.

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