Irina Bokova, Bulgaria’s representative to UNESCO and ambassador in Paris, has been elected director-general of the UN agency.

She triumphed in the final round of voting on September 22, defeating Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosni with 31 votes against 27 in the UNESCO council. Ranked as an outsider at the start of the race, Bokova’s nomination gained momentum over the previous rounds of voting, and she pulled ahead of European External Relations Commissioner and former Austrian Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

“I said to the Egyptian delegation that I hope that we will be together and that I never believed in the idea of a clash of civilizations,” Agence France Presse quoted her as saying after the ballot.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945. UNESCO’s stated purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science, and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and the human rights and fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the UN Charter.

Alex Bivol

This is an edited version of an article which originally appeared in The Sofia Echo