Paris - Hours ahead of the fifth and final round of voting to select the next UNESCO director-general, supporters of the two remaining candidates were engaged in a last-ditch effort to secure a single decisive vote, a source close to the organization said Tuesday. "I think both sides are very busy today," said the source, who spoke on condition that his name not be used.
Controversial Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosny and Bulgarian diplomat Irina Bokova were the only candidates remaining in the race after the first four rounds of voting.
In Monday's fourth round, both received 29 votes from the 58-member UNESCO Executive Board, setting up a tense finish to what will be a historic election no matter what the outcome.
If the 71-year-old Hosny wins, he will become the first Arab to head UNESCO. If Bokova is elected, she will be the first woman director-general in the organization's history.
However, unless the last-minute politicking is successful, the winner would be decided by a drawing of lots, as UNESCO by-laws mandate in case of a tie vote.
In that case, UNESCO sources say, the winner could be rejected by the General Conference, which is scheduled to vote on the winner on October 15. That also has never happened in UNESCO's history.
In the past, whoever emerged out of the election process has been automatically accepted by the General Conference.
"It is not a foregone conclusion that the winner (chosen by lot) will be accepted," a UNESCO source said. "If that is the case, the Executive Board will have to present another candidate."
This new candidate would likely be the one who lost the drawing of the lots.
The process to find a successor to Koichira Matsuura has been plagued by controversy from the start, primarily because of Hosny's nomination.
Hosny has been accused of anti-Semitism because he has publicly derided Israeli culture and said last year that he would personally burn any Israeli book found in the library of Alexandria.
He has apologized for his statements, but has been unable to convince many detractors.
The latest public personality to come out against Hosny's candidature was former French minister and Auschwitz survivor Simone Weil, who was quoted in Tuesday's edition of the daily Liberation as saying that Hosny's statements "raise many questions for me."
But regardless who wins, everyone at UNESCO hopes it will be by a majority of votes, rather than by chance.
"That would be much better for the organization," a diplomat said.
