The International Monetary Fund will be looking for a new managing director sooner than anyone imagined, and in the most bizarrely depressing circumstances.

It is imperative that the shareholders of the IMF — its 187 member governments—act as responsibly as any good company to ensure that whoever succeeds Dominique Strauss-Kahn is the best person for the job chosen for her or his economic, financial and political credentials through a transparent, fair and competitive process in which candidates get a chance to speak and to be questioned.

Imperative though it may be, there seems to be a fat chance that shareholder governments will follow these simple rules of good corporate governance. Already a European bandwagon has begun to roll, claiming that only a European can understand the issues and that another French candidate, Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, should take over.