FIA presidential candidates confirmed...but there's only one man standing

The FIA have officially declared their list of candidates running to stand in December’s presidential vote. Well, candidate. Singular. Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

In the past year, a variety of names have been connected to a bid for the FIA presidency which included the likes of Tim Mayer and Laura Villars.

However, Mayer announced his decision to abandon his campaign in October accusing the FIA of ‘lacking transparency’ and creating ‘the illusion of democracy’, while Villars won a hearing at the Judicial Court of Paris to have her complaints on the election process heard.

Villars claimed that the rules ensured no one but Ben Sulayem could stand, basically because no rival can establish a team to fulfil the presidential list requirements, arguing this is a breach of the FIA’s statutes.

This hearing has already taken place with a judgement expected on December 3; but the FIA have already published and declared that only one presidential list has been accepted, Ben Sulayem's.

The FIA themselves defend their election processes as transparent and fully democratic, claiming these criteria have always been applied to previous elections.

So, why then, if the process was all so clear, has the current president ended up as the only candidate?

Why is Mohammed Ben Sulayem the only FIA presidential candidate?

If you’re confused, don’t worry. Politics likes to present itself as a mind-boggling process to prevent people from understanding it properly. So let’s break it down together.

First of all let’s establish what a presidential list is, as this has emerged as one of the main points of contention.

Essentially, a presidential list needs to be made up of the president and a team of 10 others. These individuals include: the president of the senate, the deputy president for automobile mobility and tourism, the deputy president for sport and seven vice-presidents for sport.

You can’t just choose anyone for these roles however. Instead the seven-vice presidents for sport must be from a list approved by the FIA, all of which are eligible to stand on the World Motor Sport Council.

A pretty niche demographic of the world’s population, it’s fair to say. The confines are then narrowed further, where one must be from North America, South America, Asia-Pacific, Africa, MENA (Middle East and North Africa), and two from Europe.

Okay, yes these are very specific requirements, but those are the rules, so surely Villars and Mayer would have to find seven individuals from the World Motor Sport Council that fits those requirements?

Well, I’m sure they would have loved to, but it appears that on the World Motor Sport Council there is only one candidate from South America and Brazil represented - Fabiana Ecclestone.

If the name sounds familiar, Fabiana is the wife of former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, but Ben Sulyamen had already nabbed her for his presidential list. This then by default prevents any other presidential candidate from being able to complete their presidential list because there is not another member of the World Motor Sport Council from South America.

Mayer has submitted a number of ethics complaints to the FIA about their election process, and said in October: “There is absolutely no transparency.

"This is not an overnight process. This has happened over two decades. Mohammed is not the first person to think of ways to restrict the ballot but we have got to the point where only one person can go on the ballot."

Again it is important to reiterate that this has been the election process prior to Ben Sulayem’s presidency; but nonetheless has resulted in him being the only candidate and looks set to stand for another term.

Undoubtedly this saga will continue to play out in various guises, but if a casual F1 fan stumbled on this election you can understand why there would be confusion that there is just one presidential candidate.

The FIA can no longer escape public scrutiny, and in F1 at least they have made attempts at greater transparency, such as publishing their penalty guidelines to inform viewers of their decision making.

What this process shows is that increasingly the inner workings of FIA can no longer take place behind closed doors, and that at some points processes that have gone on unchallenged will be held to account.

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