ATLANTA (Reuters) - Sun Capital, which has nominated three people for Furniture Brands International Inc's (FBN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) board, said on Friday the furniture maker's recently unveiled board succession plan was intended "to circumvent" a shareholder vote at the May 1 annual meeting.

Furniture Brands announced after markets closed Thursday that two board members who will stand for re-election at the May 1 annual meeting have said they would retire later this year, once their replacements were named during the second or third quarter of 2008 after a search.

"We urge shareholders to elect our candidates rather than awaiting the results of a lengthy and uncertain board search process, which we believe has been purposefully drawn out to circumvent the vote," Sun Capital said in a statement.

(Reporting by Karen Jacobs; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)