Vaudoise Laura Villars, prevented from applying for the presidency of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), took the body to court this Wednesday, to challenge the voting rules. These, according to her, prohibit any opponent of the current president, the Emirati Mohamed Ben Sulayem, from running.
The summary summons, revealed by AFP, asks the Paris High Court to “order the suspension of the election for the presidency of the FIA (editor’s note: scheduled for December 12 in Uzbekistan) until a decision is rendered on the merits of this dispute”. A first hearing was set for November 10 at the TGI.
A new point of the regulation called into question
Modified in June by the current management, the voting rules require candidates to present a list including seven vice-presidents from the six regions of the world (two for Europe, one for North America, South America, the Middle East and North Africa zone, Africa and Asia-Oceania) and from a list approved by the FIA. However, only one personality representing South America appears on this list, Fabiana Ecclestone, the wife of Bernie Ecclestone, the former big boss of F1. And she agreed to appear on the list of the outgoing president, candidate for re-election.
“Under these conditions, no competing list could include, among its seven vice-presidents, a vice-president for the South America region, the latter already participating in the list of the outgoing presidency,” observes Laura Villars in her summons which denounces a “violation of the principle of associative democracy and pluralism provided for (in the) statutes of the FIA”.
The deadline for submitting applications was October 24.
“I have tried twice to open a constructive dialogue with the FIA, on essential subjects such as internal democracy and the transparency of electoral rules. The responses received did not meet the challenges,” explained Laura Villars in a statement to AFP. “I am not acting against the FIA, I am acting to preserve it. Democracy is not a threat to the FIA, it is its strength,” continued the 28-year-old driver and entrepreneur, originally from the Coast who, when announcing her candidacy in September, told AFP she wanted to revitalize the century-old body by “putting the spotlight on young people and women”.
“An illusion of democracy”
Based in Paris, the FIA is responsible for organizing the Formula 1 or rally world championships, but also for promoting safety on the roads. It has more than 240 clubs spread across 146 countries, with around 80 million members.
“We obtained authorization to summon from hour to hour”, according to an emergency procedure, added Laura Villars’ lawyer, Robin Binsard, “which demonstrates that justice carefully considers the serious democratic failings within the FIA, as well as various violations of the statutes and regulations that we denounce”.
The question of the impossibility of applying had already been raised in mid-October on the sidelines of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix in Austin by the American Tim Mayer, former sports commissioner of the FIA, who also wanted to run for president. “The FIA electoral process greatly favors the team in place and the other candidates do not even have the possibility of arriving at the starting line, it is a one-horse race,” he said, denouncing an “illusion of democracy”.
Former rally driver, Mohamed Ben Sulayem took over from Frenchman Jean Todt at the end of 2021. His first term was eventful. He particularly alienated F1 and rally drivers for imposing large fines for the use of foul words during television broadcasts. Faced with the outcry caused by this measure, he finally decided to reduce the amount of fines by half.
In April, Robert Reid, FIA vice-president in charge of sport and close to Ben Sulayem, resigned, sharply criticizing the president’s governance, denouncing a lack of transparency.
