World Taekwondo president Chungwon Choue, running unopposed, wins fifth term during virtual election

Chungwon Choue will serve a fifth term as World Taekwondo president after being re-elected during the virtual General Assembly.

Choue, who ran unopposed, received 129 of the 131 electronic votes on Monday. His term will run from 2021 to 2025.

The South Korean, first elected in 2004, last faced opposition in 2013 from fellow South Korean Moon-Jong Hong, though Hong went on to withdraw his candidacy shortly before the vote took place.

“It is a great honour to have been re-elected as President of World Taekwondo and to lead our great sport forward,” Choue said after the vote.

“Over the past year and a half, we used the time we had to reset our operations. Now, it is time to restart and elevate World Taekwondo to the top. Now more than ever, we need to stand united and have harmony. Therefore, I sincerely wish for the CUs [Continental Unions] to work closely with World Taekwondo as we aim to become one of the best and most respected international sports federations by our 50th founding anniversary in 2023.”

A total of 17 World Taekwondo Council members were also elected from a pool of 33 candidates. Of those 17, one female member per Continental Union was elected under new rules designed to improve gender equality. Maria Rosario Borello from Guatemala, who received the highest vote of the female candidates, was elevated to Vice President under the new guidelines.

These elections were the first to be held under World Taekwondo’s governance reforms made in April. Besides the aforementioned Council and Vice President female representation quotas, first-time candidates must be under 70 years of age, those standing for re-election must be under 80, and elected officials can no longer serve more than three terms from when the reforms took effect.

At age 73, Choue was within the age limit to run for re-election and could run again in four years for a sixth term since the term limits only took effect earlier this year.

Usually held at the site of the World Championships, World Taekwondo was forced to move its elections online this year after the 2021 competition, meant to be held in Wuxi, China this month, was postponed to next year at the request of the city’s government.

The next General Assembly will take place during the World Championships in Wuxi on April 12, 2022.

Election results:

President: Chungwon Choue

Council Members:

· Africa

o Driss EL HILALI (Morocco)

o Margaret Elizabeth BINGA (Ms.) (Nigeria)

o Mohamed SHAABAN (Egypt)

· Asia

o Ahmed Hamdan ALZEYOUDI (UAE)

o Jin-bang YANG (Republic of Korea)

o Kook Hyun JUNG (Republic of Korea)

o Nadin DAWANI (Ms.) (Jordan)

· Europe

o Anatoly TEREKHOV (Russia)

o Angelo CITO (Italy)

o Anna VASSALLO (Ms.) (Malta)

o Metin SAHIN (Turkey)

· Oceania

o Hassan ISKANDAR (Australia)

o Jamie Lee CARPENTER (Ms.) (New Zealand)

· Pan America

o Inseon KIM (USA)

o Maria Rosario BORELLO (Ms.) (Guatemala)

o Mario MANDEL (Chile)

o Richard Jay WARWICK (USA)

Auditor: Ali SAGIRKAYA (Turkey)