In a letter to all national sports federations, Cook Islands Sports and National Olympic Committee general secretary Rosie Blake explains the position of the board in regards to the constitutional process for the election of members of the board, including that of president.

A date for the postponed CISNOC annual general meeting has yet to be confirmed but nominations for the two vacant vice president positions plus the position of president held by the late Sir Geoffrey Henry have been received by the committee.

Following is Blake’s letter to national federations explaining the board’s position:

The executive board (EB) are of the opinion that clauses 100.1.13 and 11.9 are directly applicable to the situation which currently exists.

There are in fact four vacancies, these being the President (following the death of Sir Geoffrey Henry KBE), the assistant secretary general as referred to in clause 9.1.4 and two vice president roles which became vacant following the resignation of Tua Pittman and death of Criss Carfax-Foster.

The two vacant vice president roles and that of the assistant secretary general were the first to be considered by the EB.

Having regard to clause 10.1.1 3, it was the view of the EB that they had the authority to fill these vacancies.

Clause 11.9 was then considered and the view taken that this conferred upon the EB at its absolute discretion the power to – (1) decide whether or not to fill the vacancy, and (2) make decisions as to the appointment thereof if the decision was made to fill the vacancy.

Having regard to the events which transpired at the special general meetings in November 2011 and February 2012, the EB proposed that – (a) the two vice president vacancies would be opened up for nomination and voted on at the 2012 AGM.

The motion was carried unanimously.

(b) Nominations would not be called for the assistant secretary general position and a motion would be put to the AGM that the position be abolished.

This would be in keeping with a consensus view of members that the EB should be down sized.

The motion was carried unanimously.

In view of the decision made in (a) the EB agreed that By-Law 4 now came into play in terms of the process.

Nominations were called for the two vacant vice president roles on April 5, 2012. Nominations closed on April 13, 2012.

At the time of closure, four nominations had been received.

The nominees for vice president were – Hugh Graham, David Lobb, Eddie Drollett and Damien Beddoes.

Drollett subsequently withdrew his nomination leaving three candidates for the two vacant positions.

On May 9, 2012, the president’s position became vacant.

A number of EB meetings were called and discussions held around the appropriate course of action to fill the position.

For the same reasons as referred to above, the EB unanimously voted in favour of adopting the same approach as had been agreed for the vacant vice presidents positions.

Nominations would be called and the position filled by a vote of members at the AGM.

Nominations for president were called on May 18 and closed on May 28.

I can confirm that four nominations were received.

The nominees for President are – Mark Brown, Hugh Graham, David Lobb and Paul Allsworth.

A question was raised as to the eligibility of Mark Brown given his position as a minister and member of parliament.

This point was checked with Oceania National Olympic Committee who confirm that on the basis that the nominee was ”invited“ (by virtue of the nomination), he is eligible to stand for election. They gave similar examples of Tahiti, Samoa, Kuwait, and the recently appointed president of ANOC.

By-Law 4 (8) also confirms that Hugh Graham and David Lobb are eligible for all positions but the first position to which they may be elected shall nullify them for the remaining positions.

Please be advised that this serves as notice of the positions and candidates as required by By-Law 4 (5).

All successful appointees to the three positions will hold those positions until the 2013 AGM when they are all due for election as per clause 9.4 of the constitution.

Also up for election in 2013 will be one further vice president role and the treasurer’s position.

By-Law 4 (2) requires a minimum of 14 clear days between the date nominations are received and the AGM.

As the last nominations were received on 28 May 2012, the AGM will be no earlier than June 12.

The EB will convene later in the week and confirm the date of the AGM and notify members accordingly.