Global Security Newswire

Several nations have submitted nominees to take over leadership of the organization that manages implementation of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Candidates from Burkina Faso, Chile, Mongolia, the Netherlands and the Philippines have a chance to replace Hungary's Tibor Toth as executive secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

"It is quite open. There are five good candidates" with backgrounds in atomic and nonproliferation affairs, according to an envoy from a European state.

Toth has been on the job since August 2005. Member nations to the treaty are scheduled to select his replacement during an Oct. 22-23 session in Vienna, Austria. Polling would be required only if the states cannot achieve unanimous agreement on the new organization chief.

There have been more than 2,000 nuclear tests since 1945, with the great majority conducted by the United States and the former Soviet Union. North Korea carried out the most recent underground detonations in 2006 and 2009.

The preparatory commission has established a global system for detecting and analyzing nuclear blasts that would be banned by the treaty upon its entry into force.

However, entry into force is dependent on ratification by 44 states that operated nuclear power or research facilities during their involvement in the CTBT negotiation process. There are eight holdouts from that group -- China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the United States.

The Obama administration has said it would submit the treaty for consideration by the Senate, which previously rejected ratification in 1999. No action is expected before the November presidential election, and another formal ratification campaign first requires President Obama to win re-election.

Issue watchers have said action by Washington could spur other governments toward ratifying the pact.