Paris: The United Nations' cultural agency has selected France's Audrey Azoulay as its new director general, two diplomatic sources said on Friday.
Unesco's executive board voted 30 to 28 in favour of Azoulay, a former French culture minister, against Qatar's Hamad Bin Abdul Aziz Al Kawari.
It will now be put forward for approval to Unesco's 195 members on November 10.
The candidates duelled Friday to become the new head of the UN’s embattled cultural agency where Gulf tensions and accusations of anti-Israel bias loomed over the politically charged contest.
The campaign to succeed Unesco’s outgoing chief Irina Bokova was overshadowed by Washington’s announcement on Thursday that it planned to withdraw from the body after years of tensions over decisions seen as critical of Israel.
Israel itself announced shortly afterwards that it would follow suit.
Arab states believe the job of director-general of the 195-member organisation should go to one of them for the first time, but regional rivalries and the US and Israeli withdrawals looked set to undercut their ambitions.
Former Qatari culture minister Al Kawari had been seen as leading the contest.
Former French culture minister Azoulay, who is Jewish of Moroccan origin, had edged out Egyptian rights activist Moushira Khattab as Al Kawari's main challenger earlier on Friday.
The new director general will face the difficult task of trying to persuade the US and Israel to reverse course as well as tackling the allegations of anti-Israel bias.
