Cycling Ireland has expressed “deep reservations” about mooted changes to the UCI’s rules for presidential elections that the world body wants to backdate in a manner that would assist Pat McQuaid secure re-election.
In a statement to stickybottle, Cycling Ireland said it was broadly in favour of changing the rules that govern presidential elections.
There is currently a proposal by the Malaysian federation that seeks to allow any two national federations join together to nominate a candidate.
However, Cycling Ireland says it does not agree with any such change being backdated.
The federation has also defended its decision to abstain from voting when the European cycling union meets to decide if it will support McQuaid in the UCI presidential election in two weeks time or back his only opponent Brian Cookson.
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Cycling Ireland set out its position in a statement to stickybottle after we had put a number of queries to the federation.
The statement reads:
At its meeting of 12th of April 2013, the Board of Cycling Ireland decided to nominate Mr Pat McQuaid to stand for the UCI presidency. Legal advice received subsequent to this decision resulted in the Board withdrawing the nomination and convening an EGM on the nomination question. At the EGM the members’ decision was not to nominate Mr. Pat McQuaid to stand for the UCI presidency, a decision the Board fully respects.
Subsequently the UCI has confirmed nominations in respect of Mr. Pat McQuaid and Mr. Brian Cookson.
At its meeting of 05th July 2013 the Board agreed that Cycling Ireland would remain neutral with regard to the two candidates. In taking this decision the Board was mindful of the EGM decision and feels that it best reflects the divided views of its membership.
Rule changes potentially impacting the UCI’s nomination process have been proposed for consideration at the UCI Congress. In principle Cycling Ireland sees merit in broadening the range of National Federations which may nominate a candidate however we have deep reservations with the retrospective application of any such changes.
The decision by Cycling Ireland to publicly declare its reservations about the backdating of the mooted rule change does not specifically refer to Pat McQuaid.
However, it clearly refers to the current presidential election. McQuaid is the only candidate who would benefit from the backdating of the rule change, should that change be ratified at the UCI’s congress at the World Road Race Championships in Florence at the end of the month.
The presidential vote will take place at the same congress.
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Currently a would-be president can only run for election if he or she is nominated “by the federation of the candidate”.
Many have always believed this meant a candidate’s home federation, or the federation of the country where he/she resides.
However, having lost the support of Ireland and of Switzerland, where he lives, McQuaid has said the wording means he, or anyone else, can be nominated by any federation he/she is a member of.
Both the Thai and Moroccan federations have declared their support for McQuaid and the Irishman says that was done before the initial June deadline for candidates to secure a nomination.
McQuaid has said he is a member of both federations and so can run for election on the basis of their nominations.
However, the Malaysian federation has made a proposal to change the rules in order that any two federations could nominate a candidate. That proposal will be voted on at the UCI congress at the World Championships later this month and if accepted it would be backdated to the summer.
This backdating could be crucial for McQuaid.
He is set to fight the election on the basis of the Thais and Moroccans having nominated him by the June deadline and based on his interpretation of the rules that any federation he is a member of can nominate him.
His opponents who believe he can only be nominated by his home federation (Ireland) or the federation of the country where he resides (Switzerland) would likely legally challenge any election victory by McQuaid.
If he were to lose that challenge and the Malaysian proposal had been passed at congress, then he would maintain his presidency.
Any successful legal challenge would only void the support of the Thais and Moroccans in the context of them having nominated him before the initial June deadline. However, their backing would become legally sound on the basis that the Malaysian proposal had been passed and backdated and so would make a legally sound nomination of the Thais and Moroccans support for McQuaid.
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