ROME (AP) — Members of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have started voting to elect the new head of the United Nation's food agency.

The 194 member countries, convened at the FAO's headquarters in Rome for the agency's 41st conference, will pick the new director general on Sunday among three candidates from China, France and Georgia. The candidates — who for the first time include a woman — each boast extensive experience in the sector.

China has nominated its agricultural deputy minister Qu Dongyu, who many see as the front-runner. He would be the first from a Communist country to hold the FAO director-general's chair.

The U.S. backs Davit Kirvalidze, the former Georgian minister of agriculture while Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle, former head of France's agricultural ministry, is the European Union's candidate.