Japanese candidate, Yukiya Amano, 61, had previously been seen as the front-runner to take over from Mohamed ElBaradei, who has headed the International Atomic Energy Agency for the past 12 years.

But Amano failed to secure the necessary two-thirds majority and even lost ground to rival Abdul Samad Minty, 69, from South Africa as the voting process progressed.

Diplomats suggested the second stage of voting on Friday could prove similarly inconclusive and that would mean the race would have to be opened up to new candidates.

"A stalemate is starting to look increasingly likely," said one western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Prior to the secret ballots on Thursday, Amano, favoured by Western nations, had been believed to be only one or two votes short of the two-thirds majority.

But Minty, seen as the favourite candidate of developing nations, "did better than expected," another diplomat said, suggesting that the lack of a clear winner reflected the deep divisions between industrialised and developing countries on the 35-member board.

The complicated election process is now set to move into its second phase on Friday.

In order to win, a candidate has to secure at least 24 votes from a total 35 on the board, or one for each country on the board of governors.

Amano won 21 votes in the first round, but then saw his lead slip, securing only 20 votes in the second and third rounds.

Minty initially won 14 votes but saw his support rise to 15 votes in rounds two and three. There were no abstentions.

"Neither (candidate) was able to secure the two-thirds majority required" in any of the three rounds, Algerian ambassador Taous Feroukhi told reporters.

On Friday, the board will first determine the so-called "leading candidate" on the basis of a simple majority.

Member states will then proceed to vote on the leading candidate alone.

As in the first three rounds, they still need a two-thirds majority to win. If they fail, then a separate vote will be held on the second candidate.

Abstentions do not count. So in theory at least, Amano could still win with fewer than 24 votes as long as the votes represented two-thirds of those cast.

But abstentions could become crucial in the second stage of voting.

If no clear winner emerges Friday, the race may have to be run again, possibly with different candidates.

Both Amano and Minty have long experience in the fields of non-proliferation and disarmament. But critics say that Amano is a reserved techocrat lacking charisma, while Minty is perceived by some Western nations as too outspoken.

Amano has argued he is qualified for the job because Japan is the only country in the world to have experienced an atomic bomb.

Minty sees the strength of his candidacy in the fact that South Africa has experience of "first-world nuclear technology," but is "also a country of the south" that has a tradition of consensus.

Whoever takes over from ElBaradei, who has headed the IAEA for the past 12 years, faces the daunting task of tackling Iran and Syria over alleged covert nuclear plans,

ElBaradei has never shied from controversy and has locked horns in the past with Western capitals, and Washington in particular, over the role of the UN watchdog.

The United States has accused him of being too "soft" on Iran and overstepping his mandate.

The change of guard in the IAEA comes at a time when the agency is seeking a "significant" increase in funding from member states over the next two years in order to carry out its duties effectively.

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