More coverage of the election and the candidates

Starting after the first vote toward the selection of the new Director General of UNESCO I will post links to news articles as I find them. This list extends the previous list which has more than 200 links.

1. Jewish activists concerned ahead of UNESCO vote
2. Farouk Hosni ne parvient pas à prendre la tête de l'Unesco au premier tour
3. Egypt: UN candidate regrets attack on Israel
4. Anti-Semitism row overshadows UNESCO leader vote
5. UNESCO : le lynchage abscons de Farouk Abd-El-Aziz Hosni.
6. Disputa por candidato egipcio remece votación para jefe UNESCO
7. Rallying support at UNESCO
8. Egyptian leads race for Unesco post
9. EU Commissioner Ferro-Waldner out of UNESCO DG race (I have not been able to confirm this story, and I suspect it may be malicious.)
10. Will book-burning comments block Unesco candidate?
11. Anti-Semitic remarks cloud Egypt's UNESCO bid
12. Final stretch at UNESCO
13. Cairo nominee for Unesco chief stirs controversy
14. Deutschland will Hosni verhindern
15. Editorial : Farouk Hosni for UNESCO: A catch 22
16. UN culture body split over Egyptian
17. Direction de l'Unesco: la France doit "éclaircir" sa position
18. French Minister for Foreign Affairs embarrassed by Farouk Hosni's bid on UNESCO (video interview in French)
19. Unesco undecided on new leader
20. Russian deputy foreign minister leaves race to lead UNESCO
21. Россия сняла с выборов своего кандидата на пост главы ЮНЕСКО
22. Заступник голови МЗС РФ відмовився від боротьби за посаду гендиректора ЮНЕСКО (Ukranian)
23. Unesco: sarà un censore egiziano il nuovo direttore generale?
24. Voting for UNESCO chief moves into fourth round
25. Science sidelined by politics in UNESCO elections
26. Three contenders remain for top UNESCO post
27. Candidat à la présidence de l’UNESCO, Farouk Hosni poursuit la censure en Egypte
28. Egyptian leads race to head Unesco
29. Direttore generale Unesco: Vernetti,“Il Governo ripensi la propria posizione e non voti l'egiziano Hosni, antisemita ed illiberale”.

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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