A key candidate for the position of UN human rights commissioner, Dr Sonia Picado, said early today she had not been offered the post, an indication the Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, was leaning towards the President, Mrs Robinson.
Dr Picado, Costa Rica's ambassador to the US, said she had been offered alternative jobs related to human rights but would not say what they were.
Dr Picado and Mrs Robinson have been the leading contenders for the prestigious UN High Commissioner for Human Rights job, based in Geneva. Mrs Robinson, who finishes her term as president at the end of the year, has the backing of the US and Britain.
Asked whether the Secretary General had offered her the post, Dr Picado said "no". She added: "My highest option would be high commissioner but there are other options the Secretary General also wants me to study."
Mr Annan is expected to make a decision in July. He has said he wants a human rights component in all UN operations from peacekeeping to development.
The post, first suggested nearly 50 years ago, became vacant when Mr Jose Ayala Lasso resigned as the first UN human rights commissioner earlier this year to become Ecuador's foreign minister. He was appointed in 1994 for four years.