Proposed rule-change might help McQuaid back in the president’s seat at UCI

The rule change is being put to the vote at the UCI congress, but will be backdated if successfully introduced, meaning that it would apply to the current election.  

Currently, the UCI rules states that presidential candidates must be backed by their national federation. McQuaid, who failed to get final support from the Irish federation, instead requested the backing by the Swiss federation, his home base for a decade. 

In May, the Swiss federation stated that it would back McQuaid’s nomination, but this soon fell into uncertainty as it was suggested that several of the Swiss board members had voted against this support.

In June, legal action was launched over the nomination by three Swiss Cycling members and the chairman of the sportswear company Skins, Jamie Fuller. The legal action will be resolved at a hearing on 22 August.

But if the new amendment is passed, McQuaid will not need the support of neither the Irish nor the Swiss federations. In a press release yesterday on the proposed rule change, the UCI confirmed that McQuaid has the backing of both the Thai and Moroccan cycling federations. 

"Two candidates have so far been nominated to stand for President. Current President, Pat McQuaid, has received nominations from Swiss Cycling, the Thai Cycling Association and the Fédération Royale Marocaine de Cyclisme (all three of which he has membership), and Brian Cookson has been nominated by the British Cycling Federation."

Should the Swiss backing fail, the new rule, if accepted, will therefore still allow McQuaid to run for reelection.

In a letter, UCI director general Christophe Hubschmid informed members of the management of the proposed amendment to the rules. 

McQuaid’s challenger, Brian Cookson, is less pleased by this development. In a statement to on his website today, Cookson writes:

"The efforts to change the nomination and electoral process announced last night on behalf of the UCI Director General are a clear sign of desperation from the incumbent President, Pat McQuaid."

"This latest twist appears to be nothing more than a fraught attempt to undemocratically and unconstitutionally impact on the process while it is underway."

"It is no wonder that many in the cycling family as well as fans and sponsors have lost faith in the UCI to govern ethically when the man at the top of the organisation is prepared to embarrass an entire sport in an attempt to try and cling onto power," he stated.

Jamie Fuller, who has also launched the campaign group Change Cycling Now, said in an email to VeloNews that:

"The latest actions from UCI president Pat McQuaid are those of a desperate man trying to hold onto his dwindling power base. This abuse of process and power are unheard of in sports administration circles and his tactics most resemble those of Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe,""Mr. McQuaid obviously recognizes that Swiss Cycling could lose their defence of their endorsement of Mr. McQuaid and therefore he has set off down a path to twist and manipulate the UCI rules in his own self-interest." 

"The fact that he has now become a member of the Thai and Moroccan Federations and has proposed changes to the constitution to enable them to nominate him for president should Swiss Cycling lose their action, shows the lengths that Mr. McQuaid will go to in order to maintain his well-abused position," he claimed.