November 2: Nepal’s hopes of electing its candidate to the post of South-East Asia director of the World Health Organisation was dented on Wednesday as the daughter of Bangladesh’s prime minister was selected for the top job by a secret ballot amid allegation of nepotism.

Saima Wazed, 49, daughter of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was nominated as the next WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia by the member states during a closed session of the seventy-sixth session of the WHO Regional Committee for the South-East Asia Region.

According to AFP, she beat Nepal's Shambhu Acharya, 65, a professor of global health at the University of Washington with over three decades of experience working in senior WHO roles, in a secret ballot on Wednesday. Wazed secured eight votes against two garnered by Acharya.

Wazed was accused of using her mother's clout to get nominated to the position, allegations she has denied, reported AFP.

"I look forward to building a healthier South-East Asia," Wazed posted on X, formerly Twitter, after being selected for the post heading an 11-nation region home to a quarter of the world's population. Wazed's nomination, however, is subject to approval by the WHO's top board in January.

According to AFP, medical journal The Lancet said in September that Wazed's candidature "raised questions over transparency and nepotism", noting that every other nation had put forward candidates who were either medical doctors or held doctorates, or both.

Wazed posts on X "under the username @drSaimaWazed, presumably on the strength of an honorary doctorate she was awarded earlier this year by a Bangladeshi university named after her grandfather," the Lancet added.

AFP further said that Wazed accompanied her mother to several high-profile diplomatic events, including the G20 summit in New Delhi, BRICS Summit in South Africa and the United Nations General Assembly.

“Hasina -- daughter of the country's founding leader -- has been in power for 15 years and has overseen rapid economic growth but her government has been accused of corruption and human rights abuses, including a violent crackdown on opposition. Many Hasina's supporters in Bangladesh see Wazed as a potential successor to her mother, who faces general elections within three months.”