It was stormy to say the least in connection with the Fis Congress in Milan last month, where the Swedish billionaire Johan Eliasch was re-elected chairman, for a four-year term.
Several delegates chose to leave the meeting before the election began, claiming that the process behind the election was undemocratic.
"Just a father"
The reason for their dissatisfaction was that there was no opportunity to vote no to Eliasch, who was the only candidate.
- An election where the delegates only had an alternative to make a valid vote, namely to vote yes, does not agree with our understanding of the law, it is just a farce.
According to our legal experts, such a thing does not comply with Swiss law, and together with several other national federations we clarified it in a letter before the election, said the German Ski Federation's CEO, Stefan Schwarzbach, in connection with the congress, according to the site Inside the Games.
"Our duty and obligation"
Now, four of the unions that were against the election of Eliasch have chosen to submit a report to the sports arbitration court, Cas, and asked them to review the procedures in connection with the election.
"We are aware that this request to Cas may lead to further and unnecessary media coverage, but we are of the opinion that it is our duty and obligation as members of Fis to have such procedures reviewed," they write in their Cas request, which the Swiss newspaper Blick.
"Be a joke"
The four national federations behind the registration are Swiss, German, Croatian and Austrian ski federations.
- The procedure behind the election was a joke.
An election where the only valid vote is a "yes" does not agree with our view of the law, says the Swiss Confederation's vice president Diego Züger, according to Blick.
The president of the Swiss Confederation, Urs Lehmann, who was one of the candidates defeated by Eliasch in last year's election, goes even further.
- The choice was taken as a scene from the TV series Mupparna, he says.
CLIP: Eliasch wants to increase profits within Fis (2/2)
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Johan Eliasch wants to increase the profit money within Fis.
Photo: Bildbyrån / TT