(ATR) For the first time since going to electronic voting more than 10 years ago, the IOC encounters a glitch.
It happened just as IOC members had cast their votes for 2022 Winter Olympic race between Almaty and Beijing.
Vote scrutineers decided that something was amiss with the voting and consulted with IOC Director General Christophe de Kepper, who supervises the voting.
De Kepper blamed the glitch on "interferences with the changes of tablets."
"Scrutineers are not comfortable with the integrity of the vote," he said.
Consulting with IOC president Thomas Bach, they recommended another vote be cast using paper ballots.
Bach said he agreed in order to protect the integrity of the vote.
"I think this speaks for itself for a very fair election in everybody’s interest," Bach said later at a press conference.
Shortly before the 2022 vote, IOC members used the electronic voting system to elect Lausanne over Brasov, Romania, 71 to 10 for the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games. Although some malfunctioning tablets needed to be replaced for that vote, there were no further incidents.
But less than 30 minutes later, technical problems arose with the 2022 Olympics vote. Around 15 tablets were replaced, the IOC told ATR.
One IOC member told ATR he had heard the vote was tied when the revote was called, although the IOC said it would have been nearly impossible for him to come to that conclusion.
Bach dismissed any suggestion of irregularities with the vote.
He said scrutineers decided to be "on the very safe side" and hold a new vote on a paper ballot.
After the vote, Almaty 2022 bid vice-chairman Andrey Kryukov told reporters he was not aware of any electronic voting problems that could have affected the final result.
"I don’t know what happened inside the room. Anyway, this result was
very close to tying."
Electronic voting is expected to be used again at the session with the election of new members and other decisions requiring a ballot.
Reported by Mark Bisson
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, forsubscribers only.
Últimas Noticias
Utah’s Olympic venues an integral part of the equation as Salt Lake City seeks a Winter Games encore
Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation chief of sport development Luke Bodensteiner says there is a “real urgency to make this happen in 2030”. He discusses the mission of the non-profit organization, the legacy from the 2002 Winter Games and future ambitions.
IOC president tells Olympic Movement “we will again have safe and secure Olympic Games” in Beijing
Thomas Bach, in an open letter on Friday, also thanked stakeholders for their “unprecedented” efforts to make Tokyo 2020 a success despite the pandemic.
Boxing’s place in the Olympics remains in peril as IOC still unhappy with the state of AIBA’s reform efforts
The IOC says issues concerning governance, finance, and refereeing and judging must be sorted out to its satisfaction. AIBA says it’s confident that will happen and the federation will be reinstated.
IOC president details Olympic community efforts to get Afghans out of danger after Taliban return to power
Thomas Bach says the Afghanistan NOC remains under IOC recognition, noting that the current leadership was democratically elected in 2019. But he says the IOC will be monitoring what happens in the future. The story had been revealed on August 31 in an article by Miguel Hernandez in Around the Rings
North Korea suspended by IOC for failing to participate in Tokyo though its athletes could still take part in Beijing 2022
Playbooks for Beijing 2022 will ”most likely” be released in October, according to IOC President Thomas Bach.
