IAAF Vote Fiasco Helps Sergey Bubka

(ATR) Sergey Bubka returns to the IAAF Council after a re-vote reversed his initial defeat in the race for vice president at the IAAF Congress in Daegu, South Korea.

A glitch was discovered in the electronic voting system, when 199 countries cast 210 votes for honorary treasurer and one candidate lost a staggering 52 votes between ballots.

"Something is wrong somewhere," said IAAF president Lamine Diack, who called for manual voting in all elections, a tedious process lasting hours that will spill into the final day of the Congress on Thursday.

Had the electronic balloting worked, the complicated vote would have been finished at midday Wednesday.

In the first vote, Bubka, from Ukraine, placed last among five candidates for four positions, a stunning defeat for a man believed to be in line to run for the IAAF presidency.

Robert Hersh of the United States was the top vote-getter with 175 votes, Dahlan Al-Hamad of Qatar had 171, Sebastian Coe of Great Britain received 169 and Bubka, of Ukraine, had 159.

Abby Hoffman of Canada, who had originally garnered 175, received only 122 on the revote. But Hoffman has two more chances to gain a seat on the IAAF Council as one of the female candidates and as an individual member. Those votes will come Thursday.

Bubka and Coe were the only candidates who did not have a backup plan for the Council.

A loss for Bubka would have been a blow to his aspirations of succeeding Diack as IAAF president --- but not so fast.

It was noticed that the vote counts were off for the subsequent race for honorary treasurer. That cast doubt upon the election process and disrupted the Congress agenda.

In the first ballot for treasurer, Jose Maria Odriozola of Spain received 93 votes, followed by Karel Pilny of Czech Republic with 75 and Valentin Balakhnichev of Russia with 42. On the next ballot. Balakhnichev had 87, Pilny 77 and Odriozola 41.

Balachnichev was declared the winner, but Diack pointed out the irregularities in the number of votes cast.

"I think quite clearly the results are wrong somewhere," he said.

After the revote, Balakhnichev was still the leader with 80 votes, while Odriozola got 74 and Pilnyfinished with 46. He withdrew, leaving Odriozola and Balakhnichev to face each other in second ballot later Wednesdaynight.

For the last few years, Coe and Bubka have been positioning themselves to run for IAAF president. Each has his supporters, with Bubka getting strong support from Africa.

Rex Harvey, a U.S. candidate for the Masters committee, told Around the Rings that Bubka looked "pretty upset" after the loss.

Bubka was hesitant to speak to reporters immediately after the flawed vote, but relented. "There are problems," he said. "The system doesn't work because 200 participated and the result after was 210 or 209, it's clear in both cases for vice president and for treasurer".

When he was asked if this was similar to having another chance to clear the bar in the pole vault, the Olympic champion replied, "This is not. When you have the rule mistake, or something is done by referees is wrong, it's not second attempt. You have first attempt."

In explaining the manual voting process, Pierre Weiss, the IAAF general secretary, told members, "Something is strange," the conclusion is there is no trust in the system."

He said the time-consuming remedy was "far from ideal," but still ensures fairness, confidentiality and efficiency.

The re-vote gave Diack the distinction of being re-elected president twice in one day, easy since he ran unopposed. In the first vote, he garnered 173 "yes" votes while 27 voted "no." In the re-vote, he dropped to 169 "yes" and 29 "no", with 201 countries now eligible to vote.

He noted that he received a larger number of yes votes than four years ago in Osaka. This is expected to be the last term for Diack, 78. He may run for president of Senegal next year, and if he is elected, he could step down from his IAAF post.

In the last vote for vice president, four years ago in Osaka, Bubka won the most votes with 167, followed by Hersh with 141, Coe 137 and Al-Hamad 129.

Bubka was named senior vice president following the Osaka vote. Whether that happens this time depends on the IAAF Council, whichmakes that decisionSep. 4 in Daegu at the close of the World Championships.

Four years before Osaska, there was another problem with the electronic system. Coe was elected to the IAAF Council as the ninth of 13 candidates. Another vote was called for, and Coe's vote count went from 77 to 109.

Written and reported in Daegu by Karen Rosen.