New ANOCA Elections Needed

(ATR) The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that a new election must be held for the Association of National Olympic Committees from Africa presidency.

A CAS spokesperson confirmed to Around the Rings that it upheld Hamad Kalkaba Malboum’s appeal against the decision by the ANOCA Executive Committee to bar him from running for the body’s president. The ruling was first reported by multiple African media outlets.

CAS' full decision is expected to be released tomorrow detailing its reasoning in favor of Malboum. Attempts to reach Malboum for comment about the decision were not successful.

"The decision adopted by the Executive Committee of ANOCA on 6 May 2017 is annulled and all sanctions against Mr Malboum are expunged," a CAS spokesperson said. "ANOCA shall comply with the resolution passed at its Extraordinary General Assembly on 3 November 2017 and a new election for president (open to all candidates) shall take place in accordance with ANOCA Statutes."

Malboum was removed from the presidential election during the 2017 ANOCA General Assembly in Djibouti after the ANOCA Executive Committee ruled he had used government funds in his campaign. Malboum said in the aftermath a "cabal," of ruling African executives was working to sabotage his campaign.

After Malboum was barred from running, incumbent President Lassana Palenfo was left as the only candidate for ANOCA President, securing a fourth term. Palenfo has led ANOCA since 2005, but relinquished day to day control of the organization during the 2017 Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly.

Palenfo relinquished presidential duties after a multiple letters from the IOC member from Djibouti Aicha Garad Ali said that the ANOCA General Assembly was not given full information about how the Executive Board took its decision. Ali alleged that the ANOCA Executive Committee failed to disclose a ruling from the IOC Ethics Commission on the barring of Malboum, and that information the committee used its decision was planted to discredit Malboum’s candidacy.

At the 2017 ANOC General Assembly, ANOCA met to broker a temporary solution while waiting for Malboum’s CAS appeal. That solution was to transfer day to day control of ANOCA to the Executive Committee, and a subcommittee led by IOC member Sam Ramsamy would be formed to review the ANOCA General Assembly statues.

That subcommittee was supposed to deliver its first report by March 2018, but Around the Rings was unable to verify if the report was made. Ramsamy was not immediately available for comment on the CAS decision.

A spokesperson for Palenfo told ATR that "we are waiting to receive the official decision," from CAS before commenting. However, the spokesperson conceded that "logically the two candidates that declared in Djibouti must stand for [an] election".

The decision comes as the IOC has designated Africa as the host for the 2022 Youth Olympic Games. Botswana, Nigeria, and Senegal have submitted bids and received IOC officials to review each country's plan. The IOC will take a decision on the host at its session in Buenos Aires ahead of the 2018 YOG.

Written by Aaron Bauer

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