OAS Members Fail to Elect New Leader
Members of the Organisation of American States failed to elect a new secretary-general in Washington on Monday, when neither the conservative Mexican nor the socialist Chilean candidate could secure a majority in more than four hours of tense voting.

Luis Ernesto Derbez, Mexico's foreign minister, and José Miguel Insulza, Chile's socialist interior minister, each received 17 votes in each of five rounds of secret voting.

Both men said they would stand again in a fresh vote scheduled for May 2 in Washington. But the OAS said the field would also be reopened to other candidates, raising the possibility of a compromise leader. Monday's election was the most fiercely contested in the 57-year history of the regional body, which promotes democracy and regional co-operation in the western hemisphere.

Members of the OAS have traditionally reached a consensus about their choice of leader before elections, with the US often acting as power broker.

But Washington's preferred candidate Francisco Flores, a rightwing former El Salvadorean president withdrew from the contest because of lack of support.

The secretary-general's position has been vacant since Miguel Angel Rodriguez, former Costa Rica president, stepped down last October, after less than a month in office, to face corruption charges at home. Luigi Einaudi, a US diplomat who is acting secretary-general, will continue to lead the organisation until a new head is elected.

Some analysts have said Washington's failure to secure support for Mr Flores signifies waning US influence over the OAS. The US and Canada are widely assumed to have voted for Mr Derbez, a member of Mexico's rightwing governing National Action party. The US State Department said it could work with either candidate. Mr Insulza's strongest backing came from such left-leaning countries as Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina.

Mr Derbez, a US-educated economist and former World Bank technocrat, campaigned on a promise to make fighting poverty his top priority.

Mr Insulza, a lawyer and former adviser to Salvador Allende, the Marxist president overthrown in 1973, pledged to restore credibility and influence to the OAS.