US candidate Amy Pope wins tense contest to run UN migration agency

FILE PHOTO: Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Antonio Vitorino visits an information booth at the border checkpoint where people are crossing the border from Ukraine to Poland, after fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Medyka, Poland, March 10, 2022. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

GENEVA (Reuters) -Former White House adviser Amy Pope was elected to head the U.N. migration agency, prevailing on Monday in a tense contest against a Portuguese incumbent who had the support of European countries.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Pope would become the first woman to lead it when she begins her five-year term on Oct. 1.