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Audrey Azoulay of France elected UNESCO director general

Most of the UNESCO Executive Board members voted in favor of Azoulay’s candidature

Audrey Azoulay REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

Audrey Azoulay

© REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

PARIS, October 13. /TASS/. Audrey Azoulay, a French politician and former minister of culture, has been elected director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

According to a TASS correspondent, most of the UNESCO Executive Board members voted in favor of Azoulay’s candidature at Friday’s voting.

Read also

US quits UNESCO citing anti-Israel bias

Thirty out of UNESCO’s 58 member nations supported her candidature in the last round of voting. Her rival, Qatar’s former Culture Minister Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al-Kawari, scored 28 votes.

The new UNESCO director general will be approved by the organization’s 39th General Conference due to be held next month.

Initially, representatives of nine nations ran for UNESCO director general but Guatemala and Iraq withdrew their applications before the voting. Later on, Azerbaijan also withdrew its candidate. The move was followed by Vietnam, China, and Lebanon. Egypt’s candidate fell out of the race before the final voting after losing to the French politician in an interim round.

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