EOC Approves New Election Procedure Aimed at Boosting Gender Representation

The election procedure for a more gender-balanced Executive Committee of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) has been approved by the body’s current members ahead of the 50th EOC General Assembly scheduled for 16 April in Athens.

Fully aligned with the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Agenda 2020, the EOC is at the forefront of gender parity in sport.

Also thanks to the work of the EOC Legal Affairs Commission, the Executive Committee Nominations and Election Procedure was drawn up according to the basic principles of simplicity and democracy to ensure that a minimum of 5 of the elected 16 members of the Executive Committee be of each gender.

The new election procedure was necessitated by an amendment to the EOC’s Articles of Association, approved by the EOC General Assembly in November 2020, that calls for a minimum 30 percent gender representation within the Executive Committee starting from the next elective General Assembly.

The 50 National Olympic Committees of Europe (ENOCs) threw their overwhelming support behind the motion to boost gender equality within the EOC leadership during last year’s General Assembly, held virtually on 27 November due to the pandemic. The amendment was approved by 43 of the 50 voting Members.

The initiative was spearheaded by the Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI) under the leadership of its President Sarah Keane, who chairs the EOC Gender Equality in Sport Commission.

The full wording of the procedure is as follows:

1. The usual process of nomination remains unchanged, but Voting Members should have regard to the requirement that the composition of the Executive Committee complies with the minimum gender number as per article 13.2.f. of the Articles of Association.

2. At the election, following the election of the Officers (the elected Officers counting for the provision of 5 members of each gender), the scrutineers shall, having regard to the gender of the Officers, determine the minimum number of males and of females needed to be elected as non-Officer Members of the Executive Committee to ensure that no less than 5 of the elected 16 members are of each gender.

3. The candidate who secures the highest number of votes shall be deemed to be first elected, the candidate who secures the second highest number of votes shall be deemed next elected, and so on and so forth until all positions are filled, provided however, that the ultimate composition of the Executive Committee complies with the minimum gender representation required by Article 13.2.f. Accordingly, where the election of a candidate with the next highest number of votes would not so comply with the minimum gender representation, then, he or she (as the case may be), shall not be elected and, instead, the person of the other gender with the next highest number of votes shall be deemed to be elected and so on and so forth (if necessary) until the composition of the Executive Committee complies with the minimum gender representation as per Article 13.2.f.

4. If the process set out in 1.3 above does not yield a sufficient number of candidates of either gender, a sufficient number of positions shall be left vacant to complete the gender balance required, and the President shall inform the Assembly and shall declare the reopening of the nominations to fill the vacant position(s) with additional person(s) of the underrepresented gender. Such nomination(s) will be presented to the Assembly for a second round of votes for election to the Executive Committee.

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