Thomas Bach officially leaves his hand at the head of the IOC and a Frenchman could take the lead.
Important day in the world of sport this Thursday, March 20 with the election of the new director of the IOC, who will take the place of Thomas Bach, president since 2013. Seven candidates are on the starting line, David Lappartient, Sebastien Coe, Juan Antonio Samaranch Junior, Kirsty Coventry, Feisal Al-Hussein, Johan Eliasch and Morinari Watanabe. In France, we hope to see the current president of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee to take power and in any case, he presents himself with ambition as he indicated in Le Figaro. “Olympism fascinates me. The IOC also fascinates me. I am lucky to be president of the international federation, I know a component. I am president of the National Olympic Committee, I know another component. I also know what it is to carry an Olympic application file (Winter Games 2030). I also chair the E-Sport commission of the IOC, I see the internal functioning of the IOC and all that makes me want to continue my action within the family Olympic. ” The Frenchman is one of the favorites, with the British Sebastian Coe, the Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch Junior and the Zimbabwean and former swimmer Kirsty Coventry, the only woman present.
A ballot worthy of a conclave
The ballot to elect the new president is very special. Already, the campaign was very discreet because the debates are prohibited, the words scrutinized and the surveys nonexistent. All these measures must vigorously respect the Ethics Charter of the IOC. Far from the media, the 109 members of the body will take place to eliminate a candidate after turn, with the objective of appointing one by an absolute majority. The candidate who ends in the last place of the various laps is eliminated without possible discussion. The election can therefore go to the sixth round. It is Thomas Bach in person who announces the candidate who must leave the election after each round.
The three French people present for the vote, Guy Drut, Martin Fourcade and Jean-Christophe Rolland, do not take part in the latter as long as David Lappartient, one of the seven candidates, remains in the running (this is also the case for the other voters who have a member of their country still in the running). It is agitated by rule 18-5-4 of the Olympic charter which specifies that ” Any member of the IOC must refrain from taking part in a vote when the vote relates to the election, any position of the IOC Executive Commission or any other function, of a candidate national of the same country as this member “.
Thomas Bach will not take part in the election except in exceptional cases provided for in rule 20: ” After a second ballot in which the last two candidates obtain the same number of votes, the president of the IOC, after consultation with the executive commission of the IOC, will make use of his right to a preponderant voice by exercising his right to vote “.
LPassement of powers between Thomas Bach and the next boss (or patron s) will only take place on June 23 for an 8 -year term unless the age limit (70 years) is reached.