Paris, October 26 – UNESCO’s Member States, assembled for the 31st session of the General Conference, UNESCO’s supreme ruling body, today elected 29 members to the 58-member Executive Board, the other governing body of the Organization, in one round of voting.

Candidates for election are divided into five cultural and geographical groups. Here is the result of today’s poll (in descending order of votes obtained):

Group I: Germany, Turkey, Iceland, United Kingdom.

Group II: Ukraine, Slovakia, Belarus.

Group III: Brazil and Cuba for the Ibero-American States; Dominica, Jamaica, Bahamas and Surinam for the Caribbean Community.

Group IV: Australia, China, Japan, Vietnam, India, Vanuatu.

Group Va: Senegal, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Swaziland, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania.

Group Vb: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan.

The members of the Executive Board are elected for four years. The candidates elected today join the 29 other Member States, elected to the Board at the last session of the General Conference (1999), whose term expires in 2003. Group I: France, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Spain. Group II: Georgia, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation. Group III: Chile, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Peru. Group IV: Bangladesh, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea. Group Va: Benin, Chad, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria. Group V (b) Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Tunisia.

The Executive Board meets twice a year to examine the implementation of programmes adopted by the General Conference. The new Executive Board will meet after the 31st session of the General Conference on November 5 to elect its Bureau, including the chairperson and vice-chairs.

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