New rules of succession

An amendment to rules for electing a WHO regional director in the case of a sudden vacancy could be viewed as being linked to the forthcoming election for the agency's top post, the conference chairman said.

The resolution, setting out a flexible system to fill a sudden vacancy, was endorsed by the World Health Organisation's Western Pacific regional committee conference.

The amended rule was proposed by Australia, in consultation with an informal working group, but the wording was changed on the suggestion of the mainland.

Vice-Minister of Health Jiang Zuojun had called for clarity in the amendment's wording, which he said could be 'illusionary' because the document referred to a possibility that the incumbent regional director might be elected to the head post at the WHO.

Thirteen people are campaigning to become the next director-general to replace Lee Jong-wook, who died in May.

The candidates include Shigeru Omi of Japan - the Western Pacific regional director - and China's Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun, Hong Kong's former director of health.