"I don't think I will get the position, but the way that the IMF managing director has been selected in the past needs to be changed," Sakakibara said in response to a question.

"Anybody who is qualified for that job, regardless of their nationality, should get that position... In that sense, my candidacy is quite symbolic."Sakakibara was in Singapore to give a speech at the opening of the local branch of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

Finance minister Kiichi Miyazawa said earlier on Friday in Tokyo that Japan had no plans to withdraw Sakakibara, a former deputy finance minister known as "Mr Yen" for his clout in currency markets, as its candidate for the top job at the IMF. But some finance ministry officials have hinted Sakakibara, now a university professor, may pull out before the next ballot.

He won just nine percent of votes in a preliminary poll taken last month.Sakakibara did not comment on whether he would exit the race. Signs have emerged that Europe will support Horst Koehler, head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, after German deputy finance minister Caio Koch-Weser pulled out of the race last week amid stiff US opposition.

Japan nominated Sakakibara while developing countries have nominated Stanley Fischer, the Fund's acting managing director.

Sakakibara is seen as an outsider to succeed Frenchman Michel Camdessus in a job that has traditionally gone to a European.

Sakakibara on Friday blasted any standing on ceremony. "The past practice needs to be changed. That is the message the Japanese government and myself wanted to send to the world," said Sakakibara.-- (Reuters)