Under an unwritten and increasingly scorned agreement, Europe chooses a European for IMF managing director and the United States picks an American president of the World Bank, the IMF's sister institution.

To general surprise, the IMF managing director, Rodrigo Rato, announced on June 28 he would step down in late October, two years before the end of his term.

European Union finance ministers moved swiftly last week to throw their support behind France's Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a former finance minister and moderate socialist, to succeed him.

The IMF executive board, however, issued a statement a couple of days later outlining the selection process, stressing the contest was open to any national of the Fund's 185 member countries.

"The nomination period will commence immediately and will close on August 31, 2007," the board said Thursday.

The successful candidate would have a distinguished record in economic policymaking at a senior level, an outstanding professional background and proven managerial and diplomatic skills, the executive board said.

"In September, the executive board will consider the candidate(s) who have been nominated on the basis of the above candidate profile, without geographical preferences," the board said.

The winning candidate "will be a national of any of the Fund's 185 members," the board reiterated, stressing the openeness of a selection process that has come under fire for being anything but.

Analysts said the invitation was a positive move to improve the IMF but questioned whether other candidates would be proposed, and if so, if they would have adequate backing.

The board's call marks a "step forward" for the IMF, because it has formally adopted a process for the first time, said Lex Rieffel, a global economy and development expert at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

"It is conceivably a major step forward but that will depend on whether other legitimate, credible candidates come forward," Rieffel told AFP.

"I would say the most obvious sign that it's a step forward is if someone other than Mr. Strauss-Kahn is elected."

But the 27-nation EU is in a strong position to see the Frenchman succeed, and other countries would be reluctant to put forward another candidate who would be defeated, he said.

"The most likely outcome is that Mr. Strauss-Kahn will be selected by the board," he said, adding that other qualified candidates were at large.

Morris Goldstein, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, agreed, saying there was no lack of strong candidates for the job.

"The French evidently tried to short-circuit the whole thing" by nominating Strauss-Kahn, who is "certainly qualified" but "not at the top of my short list," he said.

A number of nations, particularly the emerging countries such as China, India, South Africa, Brazil and Mexico, have called for an open, merit-based contest and argue for their right to head an organization of which they are the biggest customers.

The decision by the IMF is determined by the weight of shares of member countries. The United States is the largest shareholder with 16.79 percent, with other wealthy nations holding large stakes.

The board said it may select a successor to Rato by a majority of votes cast, but added its objective "is to select the managing director by consensus."

Brookings' Rieffel pointed to the "major, major problem" of arriving at a consensus among other countries to put forward an alternative candidate to anyone supported by the Group of 10 (G10) major industrialized countries, which carries the most clout within the IMF.

"The political odds against that happening are as large as the political odds against the G10 at this stage really intending to make this an open process," he said.