Bokova to head UNESCO

A Bulgarian diplomat, Irina Bokova, was elected Tuesday night as the new director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. She defeated the Egyptian culture minister, Farouk Hosny, by a vote of 31 to 27 in a fifth and final round of voting that has been marred by intense international politics. Bokova, 57, Bulgaria's ambassador to France and Unesco, is the first woman and the first Eastern European to run the agency, which deals with culture, architectural protection, education, press freedom and many other issues. Bokova, a former foreign minister who has been Bulgaria's ambassador to France and Unesco since 2007, joined the Communist-era Foreign Ministry as the daughter of a government favorite who edited a state newspaper. But like Bulgaria, she has made the transition to a more democratic politics. Bokova is a popular member of the Socialist Party, formerly Bulgaria's Communist party, now in opposition, and she studied at elite Moscow schools. She specialized in the United States and arms control and was foreign minister from November 1996 to February 1997. She speaks English, French, Spanish and Russian. The choice of Ms. Bokova is now subject to confirmation by the 193-member general conference of Unesco, which meets next month, but that vote is now considered a formality.