Koehler resigns IMF for presidency

WASHINGTON, March 4 (UPI) -- The head of the International Monetary Fund Horst Koehler said Thursday he will resign from the organization to accept the nomination as president of Germany.

Koehler, the IMF's managing director, said he will stand for election in the national assembly May 23, where his selection was certain.

First Deputy Managing Director Anne Krueger will be acting managing director from Friday until a successor is named.

"I will leave the IMF with the deepest appreciation of its integrity and its dedication to helping its members," Koehler stated.

The three major German opposition parties agreed Thursday to back the nomination of Koehler as the country's ninth post-war president.

The decision, reached by the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union, was debated early Thursday by the small Free Democratic Party. the third member of the coalition.

The agreement puts an end to several months of debate among the leaders of the three parties over who should succeed outgoing Social Democrat Johannes Rau.

The nomination is a surprising career turn for the 61-year-old Koehler. Largely unknown in Germany, he was deputy finance minister under chancellor Helmut Kohl between 1990 and 1993.