The battle for the leadership of World Sailing, the international governing body, moved into a second round of voting this week.
Insidethegames.biz website reported that the defeated World Sailing Presidential candidate Gerardo Seeliger had issued what amounted to an endorsement of China’s Quanhai Li, who is facing the incumbent President, Kim Andersen of Denmark, in a second round of voting.
The first round of voting eliminated both Spain’s Seeliger and Uruguay’s Scott Perry.
The second round of the electronic ballot got underway Tuesday and will run until Friday 31 October.
Mr Seeliger used a letter to the MNA Presidents to offer ‘guidance’ he claimed many of his supporters had asked for, and while not mentioning a particular nominee, he said that World Sailing . . .
‘Needs to regain the trust and respect of the IOC and design and execute immediately an effective, successful sponsorship programme to put the World Sailing finances back afloat and on a straight course, which I feel we did not manage to achieve before.’
Mr Seeliger, a former Olympic Finn sailor and President of the Finn Class, has been a critic of the treatment of the Finn class by World Sailing with regard to its continued use in the Olympic Games.
Mr Li has said that he considered the most important new policy or required change within World Sailing to be . . .
‘Would be a policy to fully cover and actively promote the formulation of a new financial security operation model within World Sailing.
And that his vision is to return the decision-making process to the Council and the MNAs as they are the closest to the region and sailors. When we proceed forward, we shall listen to everyone, and we will move forward as one strong organization.’
There was some surprise when, after the first round of voting, no candidate received the required 50% of votes, and it was the incumbent President, Kim Andersen, who made it into a run-off vote with Mr Li.
Mr Andersen, who denies wrongdoing, had received adverse media comment over his handling of the finances of World Sailing, and faced three issues brought to the organisation’s Ethics Commission.
Only National Member Authorities (NMA) can vote in the World Sailing Presidential election (eg in the UK the RYA). 127 NMA voted in the first round.
The final results of the election are scheduled to be announced at the Wolrld Sailing AGM on 1 November.
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World Sailing Presidential Election – Change for the better or more of the same?
