Irina Bokova, Bulgaria's representative to Unesco and ambassador in Paris, won on September 22 the final round of voting to become the next head of the organisation.

Bokova defeated Egyptian culture minister Farouk Hosni in the fifth round, gathering 31 votes in favour against Hosni's 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, pulling ahead of  European External Relations Commissioner and former Austrian foreign minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

In the end, Hosni's bid was hindered by his anti-Semitic remarks that he made in 2008 and accusations of heavy-handed lobbying against Hosni were bandied about in Unesco's headquarters in Paris, Reuters said.

Following the ballot, Bokova said: "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 civilisations," as quoted by Agence France Presse.

Bokova, 57, attended the English-Language School in Sofia, the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and the University of Maryland school of public affairs. A former MP and interim foreign minister under the troubled socialist government of Zhan Videnov, her priorities as head of Unesco would be "Africa’s development needs, especially in education, and those of the Small Island Developing States as the most crisis-stricken countries in the world," according to her campaign website.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) is a specialised 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.