UNESCO's executive board voted 30 to 28 in favour of Azoulay, a former French culture minister, against Qatar's HE Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kuwari.
It will now be put forward for approval to UNESCO's 195 members on Nov. 10.
France's Audrey Azoulay, the newly-elected Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), enters the Executive Council room to deliver a speech at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
The United Nations' cultural agency has selected France's Audrey Azoulay as its new director general, two diplomatic sources said on Friday.