Vienna, July 03 (QNA) - Yukiya Amano, Japan's ambassador to the Permanent Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna, was elected as next director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday. Amano, 62, won against Abdul Samad Minty from South Africa after a total of six voting rounds, making him the first IAEA chief from an Asian country. He will head the nuclear watchdog in December following a formal approval expected at its annual general meeting in September. Challenges apparently facing him after taking the post are the Iranian nuclear issue and the nuclear ambition of North Korea, which conducted the second nuclear test recently. Luis Echavarri from Spain dropped out of the voting process after the first as he garnered the fewest votes. In each of the four following rounds neither Amano nor Minty could get enough votes to secure the necessary two-thirds majority, with Amano just one vote short. In the sixth round, which was a yes and no vote on Amano, he finally managed to get a two-thirds majority, with 23 voting in favor and 11 voting against. One of the 35 countries eligible to vote abstained from voting. Thursday''s balloting was the second attempt to find a successor to Mohamed ElBaradei, who will leave office after 12 years at the head of the organization. His term will expire in November. (QNA)