AIBA Wants Ad Hoc Commission of PBF to Hold Fresh Elections

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By Sohail Ali

LAHORE, Mar 20 8:03pm (APP):The International Boxing Federation (AIBA) on Saturday wrote a letter to both the factions of Pakistan Boxing Federation and asked them to establish an ad hoc commission of the PBF with the mandate to hold new elections of the body.

AIBA President Umar Kremlev, in a letter, made available to APP here said that both parties, one of Muhammad Khalid Mahmood and other of Muhammad Jahangir Riaz are requested to jointly nominate two members of ad hoc commission within 15 days upon receipt of this correspondence, whereas the chair will be appointed by AIBA.

“Should the parties fail to nominate jointly two members to the ad hoc commission, AIBA will do it without further consultations with the parties,” the letter reads.

The members of the ad hoc commission will not participate in the new elections. Any issues related to the participation of the Pakistan boxers in the AIBA competitions will be decided by the AIBA Competitions Committee.”

The AIBA president in the letter said: “I contact you regarding the elections in the Pakistan Boxing Federation (the PBF) held on January 24, 2021. On this issue, AIBA have carefully examined all relevant information provided from the side of Muhammad Khalid Mahmood in his correspondence Ref. No. PBF 027/GCM/125 as of February 3, 2021 along with attached annexes, as well as the relevant information provided from the side of Muhammad Jahangir Riaz in his correspondence as of February 02, 2021 along with attached annexes.”

“Based on the information available to AIBA, on January 24, 2021 there were two different meetings of the General Council consisted of two different groups allegedly representing members of the federation. As a result of these meetings, two different groups of the PBF Officials were elected, in particular in one group Muhammad Khalid Mahmood was elected as President, whereas Muhammad Jahangir Riaz was elected as President in the second group. Moreover, both groups consider themselves as an eligible administration of the PBF and submit their applications to participate in the AIBA competitions,” he added.”

“It appears that two boxing federations de facto exist and operate in Pakistan. However, according to Article 7.2 of the AIBA Constitution, “here may only be one National Federation from any one country”. Based on the documents provided by the parties, AIBA has noticed the schedule of the main significant events within the elections: the date of the elections was communicated by the PBF on January 02, 2021; the deadline to nominate the candidates was set on January 17, 2021; a notification of rejected candidates was made on January 20, 2021; an appeal from rejected candidates had to be submitted on January 20, 2021 and elections were held on January 22, 2021.”

“These time frames of the electoral process do not allow to conclude that the elections were conducted in accordance with generally recognized democratic and good governance principles. In particular, there was reasonably not enough time for the members to nominate candidates and for the candidates to appeal against rejection of their registration, which actually could lead to the absence of alternative candidates at the elections.”

“In addition, AIBA has noticed an administrative barrier in the PBF to nominate the candidates for the elections, e.g., in article XIV (6) it is stipulated that “office bearers shall be elected from amongst the authorized representative of member units or the other persons eligible to attend the General Council Meeting”.

On this basis some candidates were not allowed to participate in the elections because they were not nominated by any PBF member to represent in the General Council Meeting. AIBA believes this regulatory norm is excessive because it clearly restricts the right of the PBF members to nominate candidates from those who have not participated in the General Council Meeting as delegates. This restriction also contradicts democratic principles of the elections.

Considering the above, prima facie, PBF is found in breach of article 11.1 (e) of the AIBA Constitution, according to which each National Federation is obliged to “democratically elect or appoint its officers and executive body in accordance with its constitution and generally recognized democratic and good governance principles.” Due to the mentioned circumstances, AIBA do not recognize both elections in the PBF which were held on January 24, 2021.

Therefore, AIBA considers there are no valid governing bodies at the PBF, including President and the Executive Committee. “Hereby AIBA respectfully requests the PBF to hold new elections under the control of AIBA and with the participation of an AIBA observer within 3 (three) months upon receipt of this correspondence, otherwise, a notice of serious breach of the AIBA Constitution committed by the PBF will be submitted to the Board, in result of which the Board will be entitled to apply suspension from membership in accordance with article 13 of the AIBA Constitution,” the AIBA president asserted.

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