Vienna  - Mohamed ElBaradei warned Friday that his successor as chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) must have the trust of the North and the South - alluding to the deadlock between Japan's and South Africa's nominees for the post.

"Governments should get together and agree on a person, on a consensus candidate," ElBaradei told the Austrian daily Der Standard ahead of the vote on July 2 to choose who will be the next director- general from December.

Japan's candidate, diplomat Yukiya Amano, won 20 of 35 votes among the countries on the IAEA's governing board in an informal poll on Tuesday, he failed to get the necessary 24 votes for a two-thirds majority.

A number of developing countries have been steadfast in their support of South Africa's Abdul Minty, a senior diplomat who got 11 votes this week. Spain's candidate Luis Echavarri received four votes.

"The person who comes here has to be a unifier," the outgoing Egyptian IAEA chief said, without specifically mentioning the chances of any of the candidates.

"You need a person who has the trust of the North and the South - and unfortunately you have mistrust right now between the two."

In March Amano fell narrowly short of winning the job when he was blocked by Minty's supporters.

These two leading candidates both represent their countries at the IAEA in Vienna, while Echavarri heads the nuclear branch of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris.

Two additional contenders, Ernest Petric from Slovenia and Jean-Pol Poncelet from Belgium, were not backed by any country on the IAEA board at the informal straw poll.(dpa)