Vatanen asks court for election assistance
The FIA states that measures are already in place to ensure the election is fair
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Saturday, 17, Oct 2009 10:31
By Adam Leveridge
FIA presidential hopeful Ari Vatanen has applied to the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris to enforce measures to ensure that next week's election is fair and transparent.
This news comes after tensions between formula one's governing body and Vatanen reached boiling point, when the 1981 world rally champion accused the outgoing FIA president Max Mosley of being in breach of French law by publicly backing his rival Jean Todt.
On Friday, the FIA released a statement in response to Vatanen's move, in which it said that the 1981 world rally champion had caused unnecessary negative publicity to the presidential election.
The governing body went on to state that the measures already in place were enough to ensure that the forthcoming election is a fair one.
"Mr Ari Vatanen, one of the candidates for the FIA Presidency, has today served on the FIA an application to the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris, asking the Court to impose a number of measures for the FIA election," said the FIA statement.
"Had Mr Vatanen troubled to examine the procedures in place, he would understand that these in fact already provide more safeguards than those he is asking the Court to impose.
"The FIA is therefore at a loss to explain the purpose of this legal action, if not merely to generate further negative publicity and to attempt to raise doubts about the honesty of FIA staff.
"This is despite the fact that a large team of FIA personnel has worked continuously over recent months to ensure that the new FIA President is elected in a dignified and democratic way.
"The FIA has retained a public official (a Huissier de Justice) to supervise the electoral process and the count."
The elections will take place next Friday, October 23rd.