After five rounds of voting, the United Nations Agency for Education, Culture and Science (Unesco) has chosen its new leader - Irina Bokova, the former Bulgarian foreign minister.

Bokova beat the favourite to win - Farouk Hosni, the Egyptian culture minister, whose candidacy was clouded by allegations of anti-Semitism.

Nine candidates were in the running for the post when the body's council began voting last Thursday, but, one-by-one, the other seven dropped out.

In the fifth and final round of voting - when just Hosni and Bokovo were left in the running - it appears that a coalition was formed to keep Hosni out of the job.

In this episode, we ask why Hosni failed despite his lead in three rounds and his support from Arab and African nations.

To discuss this, Inside Story is joined by Irina Bokova, the newly elected director-general of Unesco, Alain Paul Martin, an advisor to the former Unesco director-general Koïchiro Matsuura and the author of Overhauling Unesco and Strengthening Its Essence, and Ahmed Haggag, from UN Post, an independent online news service on UN affairs.

This edition of Inside Story can be seen from Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at the following times GMT: 1730, 2230; Thursday: 0430, 1030.