The second round of elections held by the Executive Council of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) opened this evening at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris to elect the 11th Director-General of the International Organization, succeeding Irina Bokova, whose term expires in November.

Qatar’s candidate for the post of Director-General of UNESCO , HE Dr. Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari, has the lead in the second round of elections with 20 votes out of the total 58 votes.

HE Dr. Al Kuwari, had led the first round voting also with 19 votes. HE Dr. Al Kuwari was competing with six candidates in round one.  Polad Bulbuloglu from Azerbaijan is not competing in the second round. Only six candidates competed in round two.

Speaking to Qatar News Agency (QNA) today, HE Qatar’s permanent representative to UNESCO, Ali Zainal, welcomed the outcome of the second round and said “Qatar is at the forefront of the second round with a single vote. It is a good dynamic with multiple candidates. He expressed his hope that the third round would witness a further vote for the Qatari candidate HE Dr. Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al-Kuwarim, stressing that the Qatari mission at UNESCO is in its role to convince countries to vote for the Qatari candidate as he is the most appropriate at this stage of UNESCO which is suffering from administrative and financial obstacles, where Dr. Kuwari has a clear vision for the advancement of the Organization, he added.

Dr. Al-Kuwari’s program, launched two years ago, carries a new vision for the restoration of UNESCO’s cultural and cultural renaissance under the slogan “Towards a New Beginning for UNESCO”. The third round of voting will take place tomorrow. If no candidate gets majority then there will a fourth round and if the stalemate continues then the fifth and final round will be held on Friday October 13, 2017.

During this round, a final ballot shall be taken, restricted to the two candidates who obtained the most votes in the fourth ballot. The candidate obtaining a majority of the votes cast shall be declared elected.

The other seven candidates who competed for the post in the first round are HE Dr. Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari from Qatar, Polad Bulbuloglu from Azerbaijan, Pham Sanh Chau from Vietnam, Qian Tang from China, Vera El-Khoury Lacoeuilhe from Lebanon, Audrey Azoulay from France and Moushira Khattab from Egypt. The winner will be announced by October 13.

Then the General Conference will elect the Executive Board at its 39th session on November 10, with the participation of the 195 member states. The new Director-General will assume office on November 15.

The Director-General is appointed for a period of four years, and may be appointed for a further term of four years, but shall not be eligible for reappointment for a subsequent term

Source: Fana News