WASHINGTON, USA: Despite an unprecedented challenge from two developing-world candidates, Washington's 66-year lock on the World Bank presidency will almost certainly remain intact when directors meet Monday to fill the post.
Even after one of the challengers dropped out Friday to push his support to the other -- Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala -- they won't be able to overcome US and European backing for the US nominee, health expert Jim Yong Kim, analysts say.
But the first-ever challenge to traditional American control of the job has signaled that, as with the International Monetary Fund, emerging economies are flexing their muscles for a bigger say in how the near seven-decade old institutions are run.
Bank directors say they aim for a consensus decision when they meet formally on Monday to replace current President Robert Zoellick, the former US diplomat incumbent who is leaving in June at the end of his five-year term.
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