After five rounds of voting, the United Nations Agency for Education, Culture and Science (Unesco) has chosen its new leader - Irina Bokova, the former Bulgarian foreign minister. <br /><br />Bokova beat the favourite to win - Farouk Hosni, the Egyptian culture minister, whose candidacy was clouded by allegations of anti-Semitism.<br /><br />Nine candidates were in the running for the post when the body's council began voting last Thursday, but, one-by-one, the other seven dropped out.<br /><br />In the fifth and final round of voting - when just Hosni and Bokovo were left in the running - it appears that a coalition was formed to keep Hosni out of the job.<br /><br />In this episode, we ask why Hosni failed despite his lead in three rounds and his support from Arab and African nations. <br /><br />To discuss this, Inside Story is joined by Irina Bokova, the newly elected director-general of Unesco, Alain Paul Martin, an advisor to the former Unesco director-general Koïchiro Matsuura and the author of Overhauling Unesco and Strengthening Its Essence, and Ahmed Haggag, from UN Post, an independent online news service on UN affairs.
