Campaign for IPC Presidency Begins

(ATR) Four people are vying to replace Philip Craven as president of the International Paralympic Committee.

Patrick Jarvis, Andrew Parsons, John Petersson and Haidi Zhang have been initially vetted by the IPC and cleared to begin their campaigns for presidency. The candidates were nominated by the respective National Paralympic Committees of Canada, Brazil, Denmark and China for serving as president of their organizations in recent years.

Zhang is the only candidate who had not publicly expressed their intention to run before the announcement on June 19. She is also seeking to become the IPC’s first woman president.

The candidates now have less than three months to make their cases to the IPC electorate before ballots are cast at the IPC General Assembly in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Sep. 8.

The four presidential candidates are among the 29 nominees approved by the IPC to stand for election to the IPC Governing Board. There are three candidates for vice president including Duane Kale, John Petersson and Majid Rashed as well as 22 candidates competing for the 10 Member At-Large positions.

Petersson is the only presidential candidate hedging his bets with a secondary nomination for vice president. Vice presidential challenger Kale is the only other candidate nominated for two positions as he also seeks one of the Member At-Large roles. Petersson and Kale may only be elected to one of the desired positions.

As previously reported by Around The Rings, whoever is chosen to replace Craven as IPC president on Sep. 8 will not have a vote in the International Olympic Committee’s host city election for the 2024 and 2028 Summer Games on Sep. 13.

While Craven is an ex-officio member of the IOC as IPC president, his successor will not be automatically given his membership and would need to be approved by IOC members at the end of the IOC Session in Lima, Peru – four days after the host city election.

The four presidential candidates will present their manifestos to the IPC electorate two days prior to the election in Abu Dhabi.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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