Christine Lagarde has announced her candidacy to be the next head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The French finance minister had been an early favourite to
replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned last week to fight sex
assault charges in New York.Ms Lagarde has the support of much of Europe but emerging countries have called the tradition of a European always leading the IMF "obsolete".
All 10 of the IMF's managing directors since 1944 have been European.
"If elected, I will give the IMF all my experience as a lawyer, a director of enterprise, a minister and a woman," Ms Lagarde told a news conference in Paris.
If elected, she would be the first woman to head the IMF in its 67-year history.
The 24 members of the IMF's executive board will choose the next chief.
Ms Lagarde said she had the full support of both French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Francois Fillon.
She stressed she was not leaving her post in the French government, merely announcing that she was running for the IMF job.
"There are other candidates and I am looking forward to a very good debate between us," she said.
She also paid tribute to the work done by Mr Strauss-Kahn.
"The IMF has taken up the challenges of the [financial] crisis thanks to the actions of the director general Dominique Strauss-Kahn and to his team as well."
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