PASO Election Too Close for Predictions -- On the Scene

(ATR) With just two days left to the voting, the race for the presidency of the Pan American Sports Organization appears too close to call.

Three candidates are making their final appeals ahead of the April 26 vote in Punta del Este, Uruguay where the PASO general assembly will be held.

Neven Ilic of Chile, Carlos Nuzman from Brazil and Joaquin Puello of Dominican Republic are meeting and talking with delegates from the 41 nations in the region.

The candidates tell Around the Rings that they are confident ahead of the election, but the path to victory is not so obvious.

Not a single delegate here will venture a certain prediction for the outcome of the race, the first contested election for the PASO presidency in two generations. Delegates tell ATR that they are expecting the 52 ballots to be closely divided in what they predict to be a two-vote election.

Jamaica Olympic Association president Michael Fennell tells ATR he hasn’t decided where his vote will go. And then there is the decision on how to vote in round two, should that be needed.

"I haven’t made up my mind on either," said Fennell, one of the most senior of the PASO delegates. "It’s not going to be an easy decision to make.

Cliff Williams, secretary general of the Antigua and Barbuda NOC, likewise is hesitant to predict, but notes age of the candidates might be a factor to consider.

"You have two candidates who are trying to add another line to their long resumes," he said, speaking about Nuzman and Puello, both 75 years old. "Then you have someone like Neven Ilic who is from a younger generation with maybe some new ideas and energy."

Of the three candidates, Ilic is the only one who meets the age criteria to become a member of the IOC.

Nuzman was an IOC member until he reachedage 70 in 2012. Currently the PASO president is not represented on the IOC for the first time in years. The late PASO president Mario Vazquez Rana resigned from his IOC seat in 2012 and his eventual successor, Julio Cesar Maglione from Uruguay, was an IOC member until he had to retire two years ago due to age limit.

"I think this is a very important vote in our history," Maglione tells ATR. "We have been working hard to reform our statutes and to make this new election," he said.

The vote is the first contested election for the PASO presidency since 1976, when Vazquez Rana was first elected.

The importance of PASO to the IOC is underscored by the presence of Thomas Bach, who is on hand as IOC president at a PASO general assembly for the first time since his election in 2013.

On Monday night the three candidates were invited to dinner with Bach and the dozen IOC members from the PASO region who are in Punta Del Este.

The PASO general assembly opens Tuesday in this resort city on Uruguay’s Atlantic coastline. While bustling during the southern hemisphere summer season, the town is quiet at this time of the year headed into winter.

The routine of the PASO meeting during the next two days will include plenty of reports from commissions and organizing committees. Of note will be the status of the 2019 Pan Am Games in Lima, which has had its share of organizational and construction issues as well as concern about the impact massive flooding in Peru during the past three months might have on preparations.

The 2024 Olympic candidate cities, Paris and Los Angeles, are not making presentations nor are they permitted to attend the PASO meeting under IOC rules. While U.S. Olympic Committee leaders are here, the country's IOC members Anita DeFrantz and Angela Ruggiero, who have direct roles in the Los Angeles bid, will stay away.

Maglione and Bach will hold a press conference today.

Written and reported in Punta Del Este by Ed Hula.

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