International Atomic Energy Agency spokesman Ayhan Evrensel confirmed that Belgium had sent a letter to the agency saying that Poncelet would not stand in a formal vote by the agency's 35-member board of governors on Thursday.

Poncelet had been put forward by Belgium as a candidate in April.

But in a statement issued in Brussels on Wednesday, the Belgian government said it had "informed the board of governors of the agency of the request of Mr Poncelet not to take into consideration his candidature at the occasion of the vote scheduled to take place on July 2."

His decision to drop out was aimed "at facilitating consensus-building within the board on the important and urgent decision to nominate a successor to the outgoing director general," the statement said.

"It is the strong desire of Mr Poncelet that the board will be able to arrive at a satisfactory outcome at its upcoming meeting. In the unfortunate case that this would not be possible, Mr Poncelet confirms that he remains at the disposal of board members for any further consultation that they may deem appropriate."

Already on Tuesday, Slovenian candidate Ernest Petric had similarly withdrawn his candidacy.

Both had been widely expected to drop out after they received no votes in a non-binding straw poll -- aimed at gauging individual support for the five different candidates -- earlier this month.

In that poll on June 9, Japanese ambassador to the IAEA, Yukiya Amano, held the lead, winning 20 votes out of 35, followed by close rival South African ambassador Abdul Samad Minty with 11 votes.

Spanish candidate Luis Echavarri took four votes.

The board of governors is to meet again on Thursday for a formal vote on ElBaradei's successor.

The Egyptian diplomat is stepping down in November after three terms, or 12 years, as IAEA Director General.

His successor will assume the highly sensitive nuclear dossiers of Syria, Iran and North Korea and will also have to persuade IAEA member countries to contribute more money to its budget.

During his term in office, ElBaradei, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 for his work at the IAEA, has often been criticised as being too outspoken and accused of politicising the agency.

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