Bulgarian diplomat Irina Bokova becomes first woman to lead Unesco

Bokova, 57, a former Bulgarian foreign minister, will be the first eastern European to run the Paris-based cultural body. She was chosen after deep divisions, a flurry of back-room diplomacy and allegations of attempted bribery over votes, which saw the secret ballot go to a knife-edge fifth round for the first time in Unesco's history.

The previous favourite, Hosni, a painter who has served as Egypt's culture minister for more than 20 years and is close to the president, Hosni Mubarak, had been tipped earlier this year as a clear runner to become the first figure from the Arab world to take the post. But intellectuals raised concerns about his blind eye to censorship and the lack of freedom of expression in his own country.

(...) Bokova emerged late in the tumultuous race as a consensus figure. After her win, she was quick to begin smoothing over the election tensions of recent days, talking of her "respect and friendship" for Hosni.

Bokova, a former Socialist party MP, served as Bulgarian foreign minister in 1996 and took part in the country's transformation from Eastern bloc nation to EU membership. She is currently Bulgarian ambassador to France. Her father, Georgi Bokov, was a key figure in the Communist party and editor-in-chief of the main party newspaper.