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The field candidates for the top job at the World Health Organization is dominated by a list of current and former WHO insiders, it emerged on Wednesday.

Of the 13 nominees to fill the post of director general that was left vacant earlier this year by the death of Lee Jong-Wook, four currently hold senior WHO posts and three have former connections to the agency.

Lee?s unexpected passing in May forced the WHO to put in place an accelerated process for electing a new director general The organization?s 192 member nations had until Tuesday to submit names, from which a shortlist will be drawn up for voting upon at a meeting in November.

The names of the nominees were made public by the Chairman of the WHO Executive Board, Fernando Antezana Aran?bar.

They are:

--Kazem Behbehani from Kuwait, WHO Assistant Director-General for External Relations and Governing Bodies

--Margaret Chan from China, WHO Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases

--Julio Frenk Mexican health minister and former WHO executive director, evidence and information for policy

--David A. Gunnarsson, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Social Security, Iceland

--Nay Htun from Myanmar, Professor and Executive Director for Asia and the Pacific at the University of Peace and UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Regional Director in charge of Asia and the Pacific

--Karam Karam, nominated by the Syrian Arab Republic, a member of the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA coordinating committee for the U.N. from 1999-2002

--Bernard Kouchner co-founder of Medecins sans Frontieres, nominated by France

--Pascoal Manuel Mocumbi, former Prime Minister of Mozambique

--Shigeru Omi from Japan, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific

--Alfredo Palacio Gonz?lez President of Ecuador

--Pekka Puska director general of Finland?s National Public Health Institute, and former WHO director of noncommunicable disease prevention and health promotion

-- Elena Salgado M?ndez Spanish minister of health

--Tomris T?rmen from Turkey, WHO Executive Director, Family and Community Health.

The WHO Secretariat will now translate the proposals and the curriculum vitae of the candidates submitted by the Member States concerned, into the six official languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) and dispatch them to Member States by 5 October.

Check back next week for more in-depth coverage.