In my recent GOTM, I was going for diplo win (and I won), I am not sure if this is as it should be. I know that Napoleon (pleased with me) had second best population with 111 votes, and was third in score, nevertheless, Mansa (friendly) was my opponent with 107 for diplomatic victory. I had to give bunch of tech to Napoleon to win.

did you build the UN or did Mansa?

ofcourse I did, I won only after I made Napoleon second in score

just checking ;) I think the calculation for UN votes differs from the calculations for highest populations. I think UN votes is based on how many population points a civ has, ignoring how many people each point is worth...whereas UN candidates are based on actual population.

I could be wrong, but I believe someone mentioned that to me when I had a question about population and votes in GOTM9

Was Mansa Musa, per chance, second in score?

10 turns before win
me 140 pop, 2700 points
Mansa 107 pop, 1700 points
Hatty 87 pop, 1600 points
Napoleon 111 pop 1500 points

win (same pop)
me 2700
Napoleon 1800
mansa 1700
hatty 1600