GENEVA: There was anger yesterday at the World Trade Organization as two African candidates fell out of the race to lead the global body, along with challengers from Costa Rica and Jordan, but developing nations insisted they would still take the helm.

"The selection process was flawed and the procedures were violated, and we cannot join the consensus," Kenya's WTO Ambassador Anthony Andanje told AFP, after top diplomats steering the process cut his country's candidate Amina Mohamed from the list, along with those from Ghana, Costa Rica and Jordan.

The post of WTO director general is high profile because its holder is tasked with reviving long-stalled talks on boosting global commerce and economic development in the organization's 159 member states.

An unprecedented nine candidates entered the race to replace Frenchman Pascal Lamy — a former European Union trade chief who has served two four-year terms at the helm of the WTO — and emerging nations aim to stake their claim on the job which is vacant on Sept. 1.

With four axed from the race, Brazil's WTO ambassador Roberto Azevedo is seen as a favourite in diplomatic circles. "We are confident," Brazilian trade official Jose Estanislau Do Amaral told AFP.

"There is a widespread perception that it is the developing countries' time," he added.

Another key name is Indonesia's former Trade Minister Mari Pangestu, whose country is due to host the WTO's next summit at the end of this year, one of three women in the race, a first for the organization.

The remaining challengers are Mexico's Herminio Blanco Mendoza, South Korean Taeho Bark and Tim Groser of New Zealand.

Unlike similar organizations such as the various arms of the United Nations, whose chiefs are nominated, the WTO picks its leader based on a consensus system.

"It's not an election, it's a selection. That's the subtle difference," WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell told reporters.

Under WTO rules aimed at avoiding a repeat of the gruelling race of 1999 which poisoned relations among members of the WTO, the head of its ruling general council, Pakistan's Ambassador Shahid Bashir, has spent weeks gauging countries' views on who is likely to muster the most support.