The European Union on Friday nominated Kristalina Georgieva, a Bulgarian economist, to replace Christine Lagarde as managing director of the International Monetary Fund after a tense selection process.

European countries had struggled to reach a consensus on who would fill the post, one of the most prominent in global economic diplomacy. After multiple rounds of voting, Ms. Georgieva, the chief executive of the World Bank, emerged victorious.

“It is an honor to be nominated as a candidate for the role of Managing Director of the IMF,” Ms. Georgieva, who is relinquishing her World Bank responsibilities, wrote on Twitter.

Ms. Georgieva won out over Jeroen Dijsselbloem, a former Dutch finance minister. Britain abstained from voting to protest a process that it believed was being mismanaged. The selection is a victory for France, which had been lobbying for Ms. Georgieva since Ms. Lagarde, who is French, was tapped last month to become president of the European Central Bank.