French, Qatari candidates convene “suspiciously” at UNESCO HQ

Minutes before the beginning of the third UNESCO round of the director-general elections; the Qatari candidate Hamad bin Abdul Aziz Al-Kawari and the French candidate Audrey Azoulay convened in what can be described as a suspicious meeting, inside one of the headquarter’s rooms.

Sources present at the UNESCO headquarters have relayed that there is an arrangement between the Qatari and French candidates to exclude the Egyptian candidate Moushira Khattab from the race.

Al-Kawari posted a photo of him and the French candidate as a means of deterring said suspicions of their alignment.

The Qatari candidate Hamad bin Abdul Aziz Al-Kawari received 19 votes in the first round and 20 votes in the second round, causing suspicions that the Qatari regime is buying supportive voices.

As Egypt still ranks third in the first and second rounds, Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry is conducting consultations with foreign ministers of the countries at the Executive Board, trying to get more votes.

The winning candidate must obtain 30 votes, which did not occur in the first round but possible by a potential fifth round, to be held on Friday.