France’s Audrey Azoulay wins vote to be next UNESCO chief

UNESCO’s executive board on Friday chose former French Culture Minister Audrey Azoulay to be the U.N. cultural agency’s next leader over a Qatari candidate in an unusually heated race overshadowed by Mideast tensions.

The U.S. announcement this week that it’s quitting UNESCO rocked the multi-day election and heightened concerns about the agency’s funding and future direction.

Azoulay succeeds outgoing Director-General Irina Bokova of Bulgaria, whose eight-year term was marred by financial woes and criticism over Palestine’s inclusion as a member. On Thursday, the U.S. and Israel said they plan to pull out of the Paris-based organization over its perceived anti-Israel bias.

The 45-year-old took the stage to chants of “Audrey! Audrey!” following her victory and said the response to UNESCO’s problems was to reform the agency, not to walk away — an understated rebuke of the U.S. and Israel.

“In this moment of crisis, I believe we must invest in UNESCO more than ever, look to support and reinforce it, and to reform it. And not leave it,” she said.

In a short address, she also thanked “the Executive Board member states that gave me their trust” — in her surprise 30-28 vote win Friday over Qatari candidate Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kawari.

UNESCO’s general assembly will have to sign off next month on the executive board’s leadership pick, but it’s seen as a formality.

The new director will set priorities for the organization best known for its World Heritage program to protect cultural sites and traditions. The agency also works to improve education for girls, promote an understanding of the Holocaust’s horrors, defend media freedom and coordinate science about climate change.

Azoulay, a Jewish woman, had started the week’s voting with much less support but built up backing as