As with the recent elections of the heads of the IMF and the World Bank, Luis Alberto Moreno’s appointment as president of the Inter-American Development Bank proved controversial. The diplomat was the Bush administration’s firm favourite. Given that the US is the IDB’s single-biggest shareholder, with a 30% share of the vote, that made it a near certainty that Moreno would get the nod.
But the Colombian also needed the backing of the majority of Latin American and Caribbean nations. This he eventually got, but he failed to carry the votes of important Latin nations such as Brazil, Venezuela and Peru. Moreno denies that one of his first tasks will be to legitimize his election. “I don’t know if I have to legitimize an election when I got a vast majority of the lending countries [voting for me],” he says.
“In every election in any institution, or for that matter in any democracy, fortunately there is not 100% for anything,” he adds. “But now it’s time to represent all of the bank’s shareholders and in that regard I have to reach out to the countries [that didn’t vote for me].”
“I don’t think it was a politicized election.