Twitter users praise Shoukry’s efforts ahead of UNESCO vote

CAIRO – 13 October 2017: Twitter users praised the Egyptian foreign minister’s efforts to gain international support for Moushira Khattab in the fifth round of the UNESCO Director-General vote, due to be held on Friday, against Khattab’s French rival Audrey Azoulay.

The hashtags #سامح_شكري_تعظيم_سلام and #أسدالخارجية_تعظيم_سلام have circulated on Twitter on Friday, praising Sameh Shoukry’s endeavors in convincing UNESCO’s executive board member states to give them votes to the Egyptian candidate in the fifth round.

Egypt’s candidate for UNESCO’s Director-General post, MoushiraKhattab, obtained 18 votes in the fourth round of the voting process on Thursday. The French candidate also has 18 votes, while Qatar amassed 22 votes, according to Egypt Today's reporter in Paris.

Qatar's candidate, former Culture Minister Hamad Bin Abdulaziz Al-Kawari, remains in the lead with 22 votes.

The fifth round this afternoon will determine who will run against Kawari in a final vote on the same day in the evening.

Shortly before the vote China withdrew its candidate, Qian Tang, in favour of Egypt's Khattab, ceding to her the five votes afforded to Tang in the previous round.

Egypt's foreign ministry officially thanked China for its support.

Lebanon also withdrew its candidate Vera El-Khoury, after she held only four votes in round three, though the country has not yet endorsed a remaining candidate.

Khattab, 71, is a former Minister of Family and Population. She served as Egypt's ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1990 to 1995, and ambassador to South Africa from 1995 to 1999.