Last Thursday, the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports approved the order that will regulate the electoral processes of the Spanish sports federations, the final text of which will be published in the Official State Gazette this Saturday. This was the expected step so that the managing commission of the Royal Spanish Football Federation chaired by Pedro Rocha can begin the electoral process to elect a new president of Spanish football.
After receiving the report from the Administrative Court of Sports, the approved text modifies the articles of the previous order, which dated from 2015. The aforementioned report has stopped the intention of the Higher Sports Council (CSD) to eliminate ex officio members of the federative assemblies to the presidents of the autonomous federations. This was one of the star points of the draft order, drafted under the presidency of Víctor Francos, to put a stop to the clientelistic system that overrides the management of the federations. The royal decree of 1991 on federations and the new Sports Law of 2022 prevent this step from being taken. Those who do cease to be ex-officio members are the delegates of the Spanish federation in the Autonomous Communities in which there is no autonomous federation and the people or entities that, due to their merit, career or sporting prestige, had the status of ex-officio member.
Man-woman equality
Through the order, the participation of people with disabilities is also encouraged, making inclusion one of its main axes.
Democratization and good government are also promoted, expressly preventing candidates for the General Assembly and the presidency of the Spanish sports federations from being candidates who incur causes of incapacity, incompatibility, ineligibility or who have been convicted by a final judgment by the disciplinary bodies of national or international federations or by national or international sports courts.
Furthermore, in defense of the transparency of the electoral processes, the new order guarantees that the vote will be equal, free, direct and secret, establishes the obligation to prove identity for voting by mail and highlights additional obligations to disseminate the electoral processes. through all social networks and web environments of the sports federation to reach the youngest members with the right to vote.
After the approval of the order, the Spanish sports federations must develop their own regulations, as a prior step to calling elections.
