Vienna - Malaysia is considering fielding top nuclear official Noramly Muslim as a candidate to lead the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after a first vote last week brought no decision, Malaysia's ambassador in Vienna said Thursday.

But the government had not yet taken a final decision on whether to nominate Professor Muslim, who currently chairs Malaysia's Nuclear Energy Licensing Board, Ambassador Arshad Manzoor Hussain told the German News Agency dpa.

"It's too early to specifically and categorically say: Yes, we nominate," the ambassador said, as that depended on the names of other candidates that might yet step forward until the April 27 deadline.

Muslim served as the IAEA's deputy director general for nuclear development projects from 1986 to 1992.

Manzoor Hussain said the possible candidate was "multifaceted", as he had helped to set up the country's first nuclear research reactor.

Besides his work at the Nuclear Energy Licensing Board, the country's nuclear regulatory body, Muslim also teaches at the National University of Malaysia.

Last week, neither Japan's IAEA ambassador Yukiya Amano, nor South Africa's representative Abdul Samad Minty got the necessary two-thirds majority from the 35 countries on the agency's board to be elected successor to current Director General Mohamed Elbaradei.

Following the unsuccessful first voting session, member countries can nominate new candidates.

Amano, who has said he would stand again for a second vote, did not get the support of enough developing countries. Minty was seen by Western countries as being too vocal on political issues.

"He is basically a technical man," Manzoor Hussain said about Muslim.

Other potential candidates that have been informally mentioned by diplomats include the Spaniard Luis Echavarri, head of the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The names of Rogelio Pfirter, the Argentinian head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in the Hague, and Milenko E. Skoknic, Chile's ambassador in Vienna, have also been noted. (dpa)