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Senior UCI officials claimed to be behind controversial electoral rule change proposals

Governing body's secretary general and head of legal services said to have helped draft revisions...

It has been claimed that senior UCI officials are behind the controversial proposed changes to the governing body’s constitution that could see its president, Pat McQuaid, nominated by the Thai and Moroccan cycling federations in next month’s election.

The Irishman, who has been in office since 2005, is seeking a third term and has just one rival candidate, British Cycling president, Brian Cookson.

Yesterday, a press release from McQuaid criticised British Cycling for challenging the proposed rule change, with Cookson responding by accusing his opponent of seeking to manipulate the electoral process through amending it retrospectively.

Last month, the UCI announced that its World Congress in Florence in late September would vote on an amendment to Article 51.1 of its constitution that had jointly been proposed by the Malaysian Cycling Federation and its continental governing body, the Asian Cycling Confederation.

Currently, that rule states: "the candidates for the presidency shall be nominated by the federation of the candidate;" the proposed amendment would add that they could also be nominated by “two federations other than the federation of the candidate."

The most controversial aspect of the issue, however, is not that intended change, but rather the fact that if adopted, it will be applied retrospectively to the current election, with nominations open until 30 August instead of the original date of 29 June.

Telegraph.co.uk says it has seen letters dated 27 June 2013 that it says provide evidence that the UCI’s director general, Christophe Hubschmid as well as Amina Lanaya, its head of legal services, were involved in drafting the final version of the proposed rule change, with their input thought to favour McQuaid’s position.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/10248779/Internatio...

Those letters came two days before the nomination period for the elections closed.

McQuaid’s original nomination by Cycling Ireland was withdrawn on procedural grounds, then rejected when it was put to a vote at an Emergency General Meeting.

Officially, his nomination is from Swiss Cycling, the federation of the country where the UCI is headquartered, and where McQuaid is based, although that is subject to a legal challenge.

The national federations of Thailand and Morocco have both nominated McQuaid and, if the rule change were adopted in full at the UCI World Congress with retrospective effect, that would be sufficient for him to stand, even if the Swiss Cycling nomination were withdrawn.

McQuaid himself claims that he is a member of both the Thai and Moroccan federations, and that their nominations were made before the deadline – although certainly at the end of June, when it expired, their had been no public statement of that.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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md6 | 10 years ago
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as i understand it, Ireland withdrew his nomination, Switzerland is considering it, and two other federations claim to have nominated him without telling anyone but convineiently just before the deadline...but they want to change the rules so they can nominate anyone and back date it in any event so it doesn't matter they didn't tell anyone they nominated him...Riiiiiight

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antonio | 10 years ago
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More of Pat's 'make it up as we go along'.

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djpalmer32 | 10 years ago
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Pat McQuaid the cycling equivalent of F1's Jean-Marie Balestre!

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The Rumpo Kid | 10 years ago
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It's a simple majority of the voting delegates appointed by the International Confederations. (As opposed to every Federation having a vote).

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ontheroad | 10 years ago
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The story also illustrates that Quaid will have support from his cronies in many of the smaller national federations. Largesse out, votes back - that's how sporting despots stay in power so long.

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Simon_MacMichael | 10 years ago
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@wheelsucker - simple majority, correct

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Hypoglycaemic | 10 years ago
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It's just unbelievable that people who have no interest in the good of cycling are allowed to stand for president. McQuaid had damaged cycling as a sport and is a disgrace to cycling. What about Boris?  39

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wheelsucker | 10 years ago
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let him be nominated by who ever, now Brian Cookson is in the race we will see how deep the rot goes when the votes come in..it is a simple majority decides isn't it or is it a 3/4 majority required to overturn the incumbant dictat..oops president?

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bauchlebastart | 10 years ago
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The Pro teams should break away from the UCI.

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monty dog | 10 years ago
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I'm surprised his nomination wasn't from the Zimbabwe Federation - clearly Pat's been taking tips from Mugabe, the champion of despotism.

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