US defeats Russia to head UN telecoms agency in fight for internet’s future

A top US official won a massive majority to lead the United Nations agency that sets global standards for telecoms and tech infrastructure.

139 countries voted for US's Doreen Bogdan-Martin against 25 casting their ballots for Russia’s Rashid Ismailov, choosing the American to lead the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for the next four years, POLITICO reports.

Organizers won't disclose which country voted for which candidate in the election on Thursday in Bucharest.

The election pitted Western democracies' vision of a more open version of the internet against authoritarian countries' government-controlled approach. Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and Iran have already shown how the internet can be turned into a powerful tool for censorship and to crack down on dissent.

“The world is facing significant challenges – escalating conflicts, a climate crisis, food security, gender inequalities, and 2.7 billion people with no access to the Internet,” said Bogdan-Martin after her victory. “I believe we, the ITU and our members, have an opportunity to make a transformational contribution.”

Russia's brutal war in Ukraine also overshadowed the diplomatic election. In its occupation of the Ukrainian territories, Moscow has put cyber surveillance strategies at work, rerouting populations' data through its own network and restricting access to the Internet, according to media reports and Ukrainian officials.

Bogdan-Martin will replace China's Houlin Zhao, who had been at the helm of the agency since 2014 amid growing fears in the West about Beijing's growing efforts to rewrite global standards.

An experienced telecoms diplomat, Bogdan-Martin will also become the first woman to lead the 157-year-old UN agency. She will set the direction for several major telecoms and technology issues including the severe lack of internet connectivity across the world. Only 40 percent of Africans have access to the Internet compared to Europe, the most connected region, where 89 percent of the population has a connection.

US President Joe Biden has described the US candidate as possessing "the integrity, experience, and vision necessary to transform the digital landscape."