Egypt maintains third rank in 3rd round of UNESCO voting

CAIRO - 11 October 2017: The third of four rounds of the UNESCO voting for a new director-general resulted in 13 votes for Egypt's Moushira Khattab, 18 votes for Qatar and 18 votes for France.

Lebanese candidate Vera El Khoury amassed 4 votes, and Chinese candidate Qian Tang received 5 votes.

Pham Sanh Chau of Vietnam withdrew before the third round. The first round was held Monday, and the second was held on Wednesday where Azerbaijan's nominee had withdrawn.

Five candidates are running for office, including Ambassador Moushira Khattab, the candidate from Egypt and Africa.

The winning candidate must obtain 30 votes, which did not occur in the first round but possible by a potential fifth round, which is to be held on Friday. The candidates who amassed the highest number of votes in the fourth round will compete in the fifth.

The new director-general of UNESCO will be named on October 13. Then, 195 members in the General Conference will be appointed in view of recommendations from UNESCO’s Executive Board.