On air at 1100GMT: DSK has resigned - your reaction
|10:11 UK time, Thursday, 19 May 2011
This topic was discussed on World Have Your Say on 19 May 2011. Listen to the programme.
Less than a week after it's claimed Dominique Strauss-Kahn raped a hotel maid, he has stood down as head of the IMF. He strenuously denies the allegations, but says he wants "to protect this institution"
It comes after Timothy Geithner, the US Treasury Secretary, told New York's Harvard Club that Strauss-Kahn is "obviously not in a position to run the IMF" and should be formally replaced as the fund's head.
His resignation raises a number of questions.
We are still in the middle of a serious financial crisis, being felt hardest in Portugal, Spain and Greece. His supporters think without DSK at the helm of the IMF, there will be consequences for the global economy. Should the crisis have taken precedence and he remained in the job?
What about the presumption of innocence until proven guilty? A poll out today shows that 6 out of 10 French people do not believe the allegation and feel he has been set up.
Comparisons between the legal troubles of the film director Roman Polanski and Dominique Strauss-Kahn are being made on both sides of the Atlantic. Could the case of Polanski - given sanctuary in France after fleeing sex charges in the US - have any impact on the fate of the IMF chief?
Prosecutors were among the first to draw parallels between the two cases, arguing in court on Monday that if Dominique Strauss-Kahn were to leave the US, France would be under no obligation to send him back to face trial.
Should DSK have resigned? And who should now replace him?
We'll be getting your reaction at 1100GMT
