Oct.9 (GMM) Mohammed Ben Sulayem is being accused of making it almost impossible for any rival to stand against him in this December’s FIA presidential election.
Three figures – American Tim Mayer and Europeans Laura Villars and Virginie Philipott – have announced their intention to challenge the incumbent. However, Spain’s Soy Motor reports that “it’s not that the candidates have a hard time winning the elections, but it seems they can’t even run.”
The outlet says controversial new electoral rules introduced under Ben Sulayem require any challenger to present a full 10-person leadership team by October 24, including seven vice-presidents for sport drawn from a pre-approved list of only 28 names.
Crucially, the list includes strict regional quotas – and some regions have only candidates loyal to the current president.
“For example,” the report explains, “there is only one from South America, Fabiana Ecclestone, who supports Ben Sulayem – which means no opponent can field a candidate from that region.” The same applies to Africa, where both eligible names also back the incumbent.
Soy Motor concludes: “Game over. Changing the presidency would practically require a revolution in the central committee.”