A Japanese diplomat with a lengthy record of working on disarmament and non-proliferation issues has been elected to head the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - the atomic watchdog arm of the UN.

The IAEA Board of Governors selected Yukio Amano of Japan as the Agency's next Director-General, UN spokeswoman Michele Montas told reporters at her daily press briefing at the UN headquarters in New York.

Amano will replace Mohamed ElBaradei, who has been Director-General since 1997 and whose current term expires on November 30.

In the final round of voting, the Chair of the Board said that Amano won 23 votes from Board members, while Abdul Samad Minty of South Africa won 11 votes and there was one abstention, Montas said.

The Board will meet again today and procedurally move to appoint Amano, 62, as the fifth Director-General of IAEA, she said. He is Japan's current Ambassador to International Organizations in Vienna and a member of the IAEA Board of Governors.

Amano has been involved in the negotiating process for major international instruments in the field of disarmament, non-proliferation and nuclear energy policy, and he has previously held senior Japanese Government posts in the scientific, nuclear energy and arms control fields.