Mohamed ElBaradei on Monday won his third-term as Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nation's nuclear watchdog.

As Japanese delegation dropped its objection on the election procedure after nearly a day consultation, the 35-nation Board of Governors of the IAEA reached a consensus on awarding another 4- year term to ElBaradei, said a diplomatic closed to the meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, Japanese ambassador Yukiya Takasu unexpectedly blocked the election, citing the procedural reasons. The ballot is technically on the agenda for later in the week.

Yukiya Takasu said that he did not oppose the re-election of ElBaradei but the IAEA procedure should be respected. The 35- nation board of governors was forced to enter a nearly one-day deadlock since unanimous consensus is normally required for the running of the United Nations (UN) nuclear watchdog. However, with most of the board members' insisting, the Japanese delegation dropped its objection after several rounds of consultation.

ElBaradei is set to win his third term since the United States, the only one openly opposed the re-election of ElBaradei, changed its mind late last week. Following a meeting in Washington between ElBaradei and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday, the US said that it would join the consensus in supporting the this former Egyptian diplomat.

Diplomats said the move came after the US failed to win support from the majority of board members. The 62-year-old ElBaradei took over the current post from Swedish diplomat Hans Blix in 1997. He joined the Vienna-based UN institution in 1984.

Source: Xinhua