Mohammed Ben Sulayem set to win FIA Presidency unopposed as elections weakness revealed

Mohammed Ben Sulayem is set to be confirmed as FIA president for a second term in December’s election.

The current president is poised to retain the position as a result of, effectively, running unopposed.

FIA statutes poised to hand Mohammed Ben Sulayem a second term as president

Investigation by Thomas Maher and Mat Coch

PlanetF1.com can reveal that, while four candidates have made their candidacy public, including Mohammed Ben Sulayem, FIA statutes prevent more than one nomination for the forthcoming term.

Candidates for the presidency must nominate a List of key positions, including vice presidents, which represent each region.

This list includes a representative from the Middle East and North Africa, Africa, North America, South America, Asia-Pacific, and two from Europe.

Those individuals can be drawn from nominations to the World Motor Sport Council, a key body in the global governance of the sport.

Nominations for the WMSC closed last month, locking down the list of potential vice presidents for all candidates.

However, the critical element was that only one representative from South America was nominated: Fabiana Ecclestone.

Given the requirement of all candidates boasting representation from each region, that there is a sole representative available for one region effectively limits the presidential race to a single candidate.

In this instance, Ecclestone has reportedly thrown her support behind Ben Sulayem. It’s possible that there were other nominations from South America that failed to meet the eligibility criteria.

To be nominated to the WMSC, an individual must be put forward by a paid-up member club of the FIA.

As part of that, the individual must also meet criteria, including being deemed a fit and proper person and being under 75 years of age on the day of the election. PlanetF1.com understands the latter requirement has previously tripped up potential nominees, although is not believed to be pertinent on this particular occasion.

As previously reported, Ben Sulayem revealed his list on September 10, with his sporting vice presidents including Fabiana Ecclestone (South America), Anna Nordkvist (Europe), Manuel Avino Roger (Europe), Lung-Nien Lee (Asia-Pacific), Rodrigo Ferreira Rocha (Africa), Shaikh Abdulla bin Isa Al Khalifa (MENA), and Daniel Coen (North America).

All seven appear on the list of eligible candidates for the 2025 WMSC elections.

Tim Mayer, Laura Villars, and Virginie Philippot have all announced their intentions to run, and the period to submit Presidential Lists remains open until the 24th of October 2025.

However, without a nominated vice president in South America, their List will not be accepted and, therefore, they will not be placed on the ballot for voting.

The effect is to guarantee Mohammed Ben Sulayem a second term in motorsport’s top job, courtesy of an unopposed election. PlanetF1.com understands that, amongst his rival candidates, there have been expressions of concern regarding what is felt to be democratic suppression, with allusions made regarding potential exploration of legal avenues for recourse.

PlanetF1.com approached the FIA for clarity regarding the process for presidential candidates to create their Lists from the World Motor Sport Council-eligible members.

“With regard to the candidatures for the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC), FIA Members and interested candidates had more than three months (from 13 June until 19 September) to submit applications for the WMSC if they so wish,” a spokesperson said.

“They had access to the relevant information and documents, which were easily accessible on the FIA’s website, in order to submit an application.

“In addition, the FIA Administration remained at the disposal of the FIA Members and interested candidates for the WMSC to provide them with clarifications in order to complete their applications on time.”

It’s a scenario that highlights a weakness in the FIA statutes, namely the mandate that each candidate nominate a vice president from each region.

In this instance, there was just a single figure in one region, which served to limit the number of possible presidential candidates.

Another concern is the need to effectively name the countries that support a presidential candidate.

While done as a means to weed out the insincere candidates, it also potentially exposes ASNs or ACNs who throw their support behind a losing bid. Gaining support in the first instance is therefore difficult.

That there is also no pre-registration process also encourages spurious attempts at the presidency from individuals where there is no real intent in contesting the election, therefore being more of a means of raising one’s profile.

The system, as it stands, is designed to allow for two candidates to run against one another. That it has created a scenario in this instance where Mohammed Ben Sulayem will win unopposed is an unintended consequence – certainly not the result of untoward or underhanded actions by any involved, but a result of the valid nominations for the WMSC being played out.

It’s a weakness that could be resolved with a modification to the FIA statutes, though that is not something that’s possible before the presidential election in December.

However, there is sufficient time to make such remedies ahead of the 2029 election.

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