Guatemalan Foreign Minister Gert Rosenthal said Monday the country was open to a possible compromise candidate as the race with Venezuela for a UN Security Council nonpermanent seat remained deadlocked, reports reaching Mexico City said.

"The idea of a third candidate has come up in New York and we are not closed to this possibility," Rosenthal told reporters in Guatemala City.

However, the foreign minister insisted that Guatemala would consider backing down from the competition only if Caracas did the same.

"But we have no intention of stepping down unilaterally. We would only do so in agreement with Venezuela, with a clear candidate in mind."

Guatemala and Venezuela are competing for one of the 10 non-permanent seats on the Security Council. South Africa, Indonesia, Italy and Belgium have been elected to the four other rotating seats.

After three days and 35 rounds of inconclusive balloting last week, Guatemala led Venezuela by a margin of 20 to 30 votes in the 192-member General Assembly but still lacked the required two-thirds majority to win a seat on the 15-nation Council.

Uruguay, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Panama have all been mentioned as possible alternatives, said Rosenthal. "But there is no obvious candidate. And we fear the discussion could divide the region even more," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency October 24, 2006)