Khaled el-Enany and Firmin Matoko compete for UNESCO's top role

UNESCO’s executive board began voting Monday to select a new director-general, choosing between an Egyptian former antiquities minister and a Congolese economist in an election overshadowed by the U.S. withdrawal and a resulting budget crisis. The winner will lead the UN's cultural and educational agency at a time of profound financial and political challenges.

The race pits Egypt’s Khaled el-Enany, an archaeologist and former tourism minister, against the Republic of Congo’s Firmin Matoko, a veteran UNESCO official.

El-Enany, backed by the Arab League and African Union, aims to become the first Arab leader of the organization and has pledged to continue its cultural mission and fight against antisemitism.

His challenger, Matoko, emphasizes his decades of field experience, including work in post-genocide Rwanda, and promises "budgetary rigor" and a focus on technical, rather than political, solutions.

Inheriting an agency in crisis

Whoever wins will face immediate pressure to fill a major budget gap left by the departure of the United States, which accused the agency of anti-Israel bias.

Both candidates have proposed seeking private sector funding and support from BRICS nations as a stopgap measure.

The new chief must also navigate deep geopolitical divisions over wars in Gaza and Ukraine while managing persistent accusations of internal mismanagement within the 80-year-old UN system.