The First Round of Voting

The first round of voting ended a couple of hours ago in Paris. I have had several reports on the totals which are in general agreement/

Farouk Hosny, the Egyptian candidate as expected had most votes, but was far from the majority of 30 needed to be selected.

Irina Bokova (Bulgaria), Alexander Yakovenko (Russia), Ivonne Baki (Ecuador) and Benita Ferrero-Waldner (Austria) were bunched with 7 or 8 votes each.

The remaining candidates (Marciulionyte, Muhongo, Tadjani and Bedjaoui) were far behind.

I understand that there is to be another vote tomorrow.

Recall that the Executive Board has some 60 items on its agenda so the delegates have a great deal to do beside the election of a new Director General.

Remember, that the rules allow the voting to end when any candidate gets a majority on a ballot. If that has not happened by the fourth vote, the voting in the fifth round is limited to the two candidates who received the most votes on the fourth.

Read:

• "Science sidelined by politics in UNESCO elections"
• "First round of vote fails to elect Unesco head"
• "Alleged anti-Semite close to being named head of Unesco" which sites an unnamed source who stated that Farouk Hosny received 22 votes.
• "UNESCO-Chef: Ferrero-Waldner bei erstem Wahlgang auf dem Podium"
• "UNESCO no logra elegir al director general en primera vuelta"
• "Farouk Hosni devra patienter pour prendre la tête de l'Unesco"
• "UNESCO-Wahl: Ferrero-Waldner weiter im Rennen"
• "Ivonne Baki Solo Consigue 7 Votos para la UNESCO"
• "Un premier tour pour rien"
• "No Winner in First Round of Votes for Unesco Chief"
• "UNESCO: Ferrero-Waldner noch im Rennen"
• "Bulgaria UNESCO Director Nominee Stands 2nd after 1st Round"
• "UNESCO nu are director general după primul (Romanian)
• "Egyptian candidate leads UNESCO vote"
• "So far Marciulionyte gets just 3 votes in UNESCO head elections"
• "Sources say Farouk Hosni winning UNESCO vote"

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