UPDATE 1-Lamy only candidate for next head of WTO

By Jonathan Lynn

GENEVA, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The current head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Pascal Lamy, is the only candidate to be the next director-general, since no one has emerged to challenge him for the job, a WTO spokesman said on Monday.

Lamy was the only candidate to have come forward when nominations closed on Dec. 31, spokesman Keith Rockwell told Reuters.

"No one else has thrown their hat into the ring," he said.

Lamy's four-year term as head of the body that referees world trade expires at the end of August this year.

WTO members must now decide whether Lamy's re-appointment is automatic or the organisation should still go through the motions of a formal selection process, which would name a successful candidate by May 31 to take office from September.

It is the first time in the WTO's 14-year history that there has been no contested candidacy, with previous bitterly fought elections lasting for months.

"The decision by WTO members not to propose contenders to Lamy's quest for re-election signals, at best, their confidence in Lamy's continued leadership and, at worst, the perceived lack of viable alternatives," said Carolyn Deere, director of the global trade governance project in the Global Economic Governance Programme at University College, Oxford.

"For many members, there are also concerns about rocking the leadership boat given the uncertain political environment and the tenuous future of the Doha round," she said in a blog.