France's Audrey Azoulay, a former culture minister like al-Kawari, was in second place among the six candidates still in the running to replace outgoing UNESCO director-general Irina Bokova. The candidate selected by the board must be approved by UNESCO's 195 member states in November, but this is seen as a formality. China's Tang Qian and Vietnam's Pham Sanh Chau each scored five votes, while Vera El Khoury of Lebanon won three. Arab countries have complained that UNESCO has never had a boss from their region. However, UNESCO does not observe the kind of rotation by world region which is used when choosing a UN secretary general.

Source: The Nation Bangkok October 10, 2017 18:22 UTC