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The International Monetary Fund is just over a week away from electing a new managing director, a position that for the first time could go to a woman, Christine Lagarde of France, or for the first to someone not European, Mexico’s Agustin Carstens.

The IMF said its board would meet June 28th to discuss the strengths of the two candidates for the managing director bid, and decide on a winner by June 30th. The institution said in a statement that the central bank leader of Mexico Agustin Carstens will visit the agency on Monday and Tuesday of this week for a series of interviews, while the French Economy Minister Christine Madeleine Lagarde, will visit Wednesday and Thursday.

They compete to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned as head of the IMF last month after being accused of sexually assaulting a maid in a hotel in New York, charges that the veteran former head of IMF denies. Lagarde is considered the favorite, but some officials in emerging market countries have demanded an end to the tradition of naming a European to head the multilateral lender.

”In terms of the selection process, although the board may select a Managing Director by a majority of the votes cast, the objective of the meeting is to select the managing director by consensus at a formal meeting,” said an IMF spokesman in a statement. Candidates will meet with the board both in general and individually with country directors. The IMF said it would publish the candidates' statements to the board on its website after the meetings. It also said it would announce the final selection of the next Managing Director through a press release.

On the other hand, the French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, said her European colleagues gave her chocolates and wished her well for her attempt this week to become the first woman to head of the International Monetary Fund. After a meeting of finance ministers from the 27-nation bloc in Luxembourg, where plans were discussed to deal with the debt crisis in Greece, Lagarde said her colleagues gave her a warm farewell before her trip to Washington on Tuesday to an interview at the institution.

“My colleagues in the Ecofin Council (Economic and Financial Affairs) praised me, wished me luck and gave me chocolates I could share with you, but I think I'm going to take them for me,” said the minister. Lagarde is the favorite to replace her compatriot Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Emerging economies are demanding a greater voice in the IMF as a correlate of its growing economic clout. Russia, India, China, and other countries say they want to end the tradition that always puts the fund in European hands. Lagarde is supported by European nations. Few countries outside Latin America, however, have expressed support for Carstens. United States and Japan have the largest share of votes in the fund but have not yet announced whom they will support.