Yachting: World Sailing election |05 November 2020
Quanhai Li elected as president
- Seychellois Alain Alcindor sits on the council
World Sailing has confirmed the result of the 2020 presidential elections with Quanhai Li of China being elected as the new president, while Seychellois Alain Alcindor will serve on the council for a four-year term.
Four presidential candidates were up for election in the first round and no one received more than 50% of votes. A second round of voting was required. The top two candidates, namely Kim Andersen of Denmark and Li advanced to the second round.
In the second round of voting, 128 member national authorities (MNA), in good standing with World Sailing, sent verified votes to the independent scrutineer.
Receiving 68 votes, Quanhai Li was elected as president, while Andersen received 60 votes.
The election of the president and seven vice-presidents was conducted by an electronic ballot.
Only World Sailing member National Authorities (MNA) who are in good standing with World Sailing, were eligible to vote.
Each MNA selected at least two male and two female candidates for vice- president.
Eligible candidates are endorsed by at least five World Sailing MNAs with the term of office beginning at the close of the general assembly.
The board of directors are elected for a period of four years.
The first round of voting was held on October 9-16, 2020. This was the main voting period for the presidential and vice-presidential elections.
Controlling and regulating the process was World Sailing’s election committee chaired by Philip Cotton and supported by Melanie Willmore and David Kellett, who have overseen the process. In addition, KPMG was appointed as the independent scrutineer.
The announcement of the results for the World Sailing presidential and vice- presidential elections capped off an eventful week of committee meetings, thoughtful discussions, spirited debate, and important decision-making.
The new World Sailing vice-presidents are Cory Sertl (United States of America), Tomasz Chamera (Poland), Sarah Kenny (Australia), Philip Baum (Republic of South Africa), Yann Rocherieux (France), Duriye Özlem Akdurak (Turkey) and Marcus Spillane (Ireland).
As for the council members, they are Stacey Clark, Wolfgang Mayrhofer, Edo Fantela, Ewa Jodlowska, Kamen Fillyov, Totos Theodossiou, Nicolas Henard, Walter Cavallucci, Julia Casanueva San Emeterio, Remco de Goederer, Ulfur Hrobjartsson, Annika Ekman, Tatiana Ermakova, Rashid ibrahim AlKindi, Qu Chun, Takao Otani, Abdur, Rehman Arshad, John Philp, Daniel Belcher, Luis Fernando Velasco, Marco Aurelio de Sa Ribeiro, Hector Duval, Peter Hall, Stan Honey, Alain Alcindor and Mohammed Atbi.
If a council member is elected as a president or vice-president, he/she automatically vacates his/her council seat creating a casual vacancy Article 49. Casual vacancies are filled by the council itself under Article 48.
In accordance with convention, the members of the group will be asked to propose a candidate for council to approve.
Under Article 49, if the original council member is a woman, the person appointed to replace her must also be a woman.
Seychelles Yachting Association (SYA) chairman Alain Alcindor and Mohammed Atbi of Algeria are the two African continent representatives on the World sailing Council.
Speaking to Sports NATION, Mr Alcindor, who is also the secretary general of the Seychelles Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (Socga), said their role on the council is to push for the African continent’s agenda.
“It is indeed a privilege to serve the sport of sailing. We fought to host Olympic qualifying events in Africa and this has materialised. So far, we have been able to organise RSX, 470 and Laser qualifiers. We now need to push to host other categories. We can do it as we are part of the council which makes decisions,” Mr Alcindor told Sports NATION.
World Sailing’s decisions are taken by the council and board of directors made up of the president, seven vice-presidents, officers of honour (non-voting), 28 appointed members (representing each of the six regional groups of sailing nations), and representatives of the Offshore Committee, Classes Committee, Athletes’ commission, a women’s representative and chief executive David Graham.
To enable the distribution of seats of representatives of Full Members on Council in accordance with the principle laid down in Regulation 2.1, the following system shall be used:
(a) There shall be six regions from which representatives of Full Members shall be appointed to council, based on the numbers of members (individuals) associated or affiliated with the full members in each region. The regions are:
(i) Africa,
(ii) Asia,
(iii) Oceania,
(iv) Europe,
(v) North America and the Caribbean,
(vi) Central and South America.
The board of directors implement the policy decisions of the council and take all management and operational decisions on behalf of the federation.
The council is at the head of the decision-making process. The council is made up of the board of directors and 28 nominated members (representing the regional groups of sailing nations), the chairman of the Oceanic and Offshore Committee, a representative of the World Sailing Classes Committee, a women's representative, an athlete's representative and three non-voting members (treasurer and two officers of honour).
Compiled by Roland Duval