To the head of UNESCO, a woman was elected for the first time

Paris - The new Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has today been elected Bulgarian Irina Bokova. She became the first woman in this position. According to AFP, this was reported by a spokesperson for UNESCO's Paris headquarters. Due to disputes among member states, she was elected only in the fifth round. She defeated the long-favored Egyptian Farouk Hosny, who is accused of antisemitism.
    Fifty-seven-year-old Bokova is her country's ambassador to France and at UNESCO. In the fifty-eight-member executive board of the organization, she received 31 votes, while Egyptian Culture Minister Hosny received 27. The new face at the helm of UNESCO still needs to be approved by the organization's General Conference in October, which includes all 193 member countries. It is not expected that countries will disregard the decision of the governing body in the form of the executive board.
    Of the original nine candidates nominated by their states, the other seven withdrew from the race for the top position during the rounds in recent days. Over the weekend, Austrian Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European Commissioner for External Relations, also made the decision after Friday's third round. She reportedly decided to do so "in the higher interest of the organization and European unity."
    The elections, according to AFP, were accompanied by intense negotiations among European delegations aiming to find a common candidate who would secure the necessary majority and defeat the favored controversial Egyptian, who some critics consider to be an antisemite. For example, last year he declared that he would burn all Israeli books in Egypt.
    In the first three rounds last week, the Egyptian always won, but never received the necessary majority. In Monday's fourth round, Hosny and Bokova were the only remaining candidates to receive the same number of 29 votes. If the situation from Monday were to repeat today, a draw would determine who among them would become the new head of UNESCO, which would be the first time since the organization's establishment.
    The intergovernmental organization UNESCO, headquartered in Paris, is one of the 14 specialized agencies of the UN. It was established in 1946. Its goal is to strengthen cooperation among countries in education, science, and culture. The new director will replace the current head of UNESCO, Japanese Koiichiro Matsuura, whose mandate expires this year.