UNESCO vote
September 21, 2009
Farouk Hosni and Irina Bokova were the two top candidates in Monday's fourth round of voting to find a successor for Koichiro Matsuura, although neither of them received the necessary majority of the 58 voting members of the UNESCO executive council. After the other candidates had dropped out of the running, Hosny and Bokova each received 29 votes.
Hosni, who would be the first Arab to head the agency, has been accused of anti-Semitism on the basis of a number of inflammatory statements, including last year's public declaration that he would personally burn any Israeli book found in the library of Alexandria.
Earlier this year, Hosni apologized for the comment and some prominent activists, such as French Nazi-hunter Serge Klarsfeld, have accepted his regrets and supported him. Other activists, however, have accused Hosni of colluding in censorship and violation of press freedom in Egypt and have pressured UNESCO members not to vote for him.
Earlier on Monday Ecuador's ambassador to the French-based organization, Marcelo Vazquez, announced that his government withdrew its candidate shortly before the council held its fourth vote.
Austrian European Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner had already dropped her bid for the post on Sunday. In a brief statement issued by the United Nation's culture agency, Ferrero-Waldner said she had decided to withdraw in the "superior interest of the organization and of European unity".
The run-off vote is to be held on Tuesday. If neither candidate receives a majority then, UNESCO rules call for the new director general to be chosen by the drawing of lots. However, a UNESCO spokeswoman said Monday that everything would be done to avoid such an outcome.
mrm/dpa/Reuters/AP
Editor: Rick Demarest