VIENNA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Two top candidates for the position of director general of the United Nations nuclear watchdog are locked in a tight race, a straw poll conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) 35-nation Board of Governors showed on Tuesday.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, Argentina's ambassador to the Vienna-based IAEA, received 15 votes, while the agency's acting Director General Cornel Feruta of Romania garnered 14.

Lassina Zerbo of Burkina Faso, executive secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, received five votes.

The agency expects to appoint its new leader in October, and he or she will take office by Jan. 1, 2020, according to the IAEA website.

The board conducts informal straw polls during consultations on the appointment of a new director general to facilitate consensus, the IAEA said.

Straw polls give the board a reading of the support enjoyed by the different candidates and the results are non-binding, it said.

The first straw poll was held on Oct. 10 with the same results for the top two candidates. Zerbo received four votes.