Farouk Hosni nomination for UNESCO

Xinhuanet

The Egyptian Culture Minister Farouq Hosni is expected to win the elections for the post of next director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as he is backed by enough countries, Hosam Nassar, an consultant of the minister, told Xinhua in an interview.

Farouq Hosni, who applied for the UNESCO position last year amid Israeli opposition, has "a great opportunity to win the up-coming elections in October," Nassar said, adding that the minister has got enough backings among the electoral committee.

As for the specific number of countries which back Farouq Hosni, he said that there are about 30 out of 58 countries which have the right to vote.

Earlier, Russia, Chad, Congo and Brazil have announced their support for Farouq Hosni.

But Nassar said that acquiring enough public backing does not mean the minister is surely to win the elections, as the vote will be secret.

The vote is run through secret and direct system. 58 countries have the right to vote and the winner should acquire the minimum votes of 30.

"Farouq Hosni is facing competition from candidates from Lithuania, Bulgaria, Algeria and Tanzania," Nassar said.

Egypt has been exerting efforts to public campaign aimed to bring Hosni to the seat of UNESCO chief.