Hans Rustad Bulgarias Frankrike-ambassadør, Irina Bokova, danket ut Egypts Farouk Hosni og ble UNESCOs første kvinnelige sjef. Egyptiske medier mente det var sionistisk påvirkning som var årsak til nederlaget.
rina Bokova, 57, defeated Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosny after a suspenseful and drawn-out race, sealing victory in the fifth round of balloting at the organization’s Paris headquarters. The vote among UNESCO board members was 31 to 27.
The race was tight and closely watched, with a flurry of secretive diplomatic efforts between each round, allegations of fraud and an uproar over Hosny’s candidacy.
For months, Hosny had been considered the favorite. But critics raised Egypt’s contentious record of cultural censorship and highlighted his threat last year to burn Israeli books, a comment he later apologized for. Bokova’s candidacy took off late in the race as delegates sought a consensus figure.
Hosny and Bokova tied on Monday night — and if Tuesday’s vote had also been a draw, officials were prepared to pick a name at random from a bag.
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Many Egyptians saw the opposition to Hosny as anti-Egyptian and anti-Muslims.«There was so much pressure from Europe and America against him and it is sad that a small country like Israel has been able to control so many powerful countries from the West,» Salah Eissa, a prominent intellectual and editor of the cultural weekly «Al-Qahira» told The Associated Press.
A few Egyptians, however, have spoken out against Hosny’s candidacy, describing him as the product of a dictatorship and responsible for stifling the cultural scene in Egypt.
«I have always said that there are at least 10,000 other people in Egypt who would be better candidates for UNESCO than Faruk Hosny,» said novelist Alaa al-Aswany.
