The election results, announced by the executive council president, Vera El Khoury Lacoeuilhe, revealed that Khaled el-Enany secured 55 out of 57 possible votes, defeating Congolese diplomat Firmin Edouard Matoko.
The outcome is expected to be ratified on November 6, at the UNESCO General Conference in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Khaled el-Enany, anticipated to take office as the 12th Director-General of UNESCO on November 14, will become the first citizen from an Arab country and the second African, following Senegalese Amadou Mahtar Mbow (1974-1987), to assume the role.
A former Minister of Antiquities and Tourism (2016-2022) in the Egyptian government, Khaled el-Enany, aged 54, is a trained Egyptologist and professor of Egyptology at Helwan University in Cairo, where he has been affiliated for over 30 years, according to his website biography.
His academic journey, which also includes teaching ancient Egyptian language, spans several other higher education institutions such as the University of Palermo in Italy, Paul Valéry University Montpellier in France, and Brandenburg University of Technology in Germany.
The next UNESCO director-general, who led the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat, Cairo, is also a corresponding academic at the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin, an associate researcher, and a board member of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology.
Audrey Azoulay, former French Minister of Culture, and the second woman to head UNESCO after Bulgarian Irina Bokova (2009-2017), completes her two consecutive terms in November.
