French Chess President Impeached

[harrylamb]

The General Assembly of the French Chess Federation held on 26th March voted to remove Diego Salazar from the post of the President.

First the President’s report was rejected with 635 votes against, 290 for and 57 abstentions. The financial report was rejected with similar majority 656 against, 173 for, 185 abstentions.

After the break for consultations, the Assembly voted the impeachment of President Salazar with big majority: 623 in favor, 92 abstentions, 303 against. An early election will be held in September 2016.

Diego Salazar was elected into office in April 2013.

Report compiled from various sources

[JustinHorton]

Always give your source

[NickFaulks]

Is being impeached the same as losing to "none of the above", just French?

[JustinHorton]

I'm guessing it's not and that it involves the removal of an incumbent from office before the normal term of that office has expired.

[harrylamb]

Always give your source

Hmm I thought journalists went to jail rather than reveal their sources.

I did say "Report compiled from various sources"
My prime source was the President of a French Regional Chess Federation. I then looked on the internet for comments. Found several. The one I published was brief precise and gave the info I wanted. Which being lazy I edited and cut and pasted

[David Robertson]

Better source here but in French. It appears the President has taken the FFE from a small surplus in 2014 (€1700) to a colossal deficit in 2015 (€170,000). So he's been overthrown ad nutum, a new term for me, which loosely translates as 'nuts severed with immediate effect'

[Brian Towers]

So he's been overthrown ad nutum, a new term for me, which loosely translates as 'nuts severed with immediate effect'

Seems like rather a drastic solution to the shortage of French countertenors.

[Simon Brown]

It also says that the total deficit is about €400k, accumulated not just this year, by failing to provide for liabilities such as pensions for employees. The loss this year on the French adult championship was nearly €50k.

[Roger de Coverly]

I'm guessing it's not and that it involves the removal of an incumbent from office before the normal term of that office has expired.

I suppose it's slightly more like the removal of Andrew Paulson than the removal of Phil Ehr, although was decided only by the Directors. If the ECF Council meeting approves three year terms, the "none of the above" method will no longer be available two years out of three.

The French Federation has always given the impression of being well-funded with their National Championships and supporting events being a bigger and grander affair than the British Championship Congress.

[Mick Norris]

The French Federation has always given the impression of being well-funded with their National Championships and supporting events being a bigger and grander affair than the British Championship Congress.

Any idiot can run things at a loss, as is frequently shown at Gigg Lane - the skill is putting on events that make a profit or at least break even

[Alex Holowczak]

I suppose it's slightly more like the removal of Andrew Paulson than the removal of Phil Ehr, although was decided only by the Directors. If the ECF Council meeting approves three year terms, the "none of the above" method will no longer be available two years out of three.

Their President was elected on a multi-year ticket quite recently. I get the impression that in France, they didn't actually vote None of the Above in an annual election. There was a proactive motion from the clubs to get rid of the President mid-term. So whilst what you said is true - the NotA option isn't there - it isn't correct to use that as an analogy to the French situation. Hence the source commenting that they would be having early elections.

The French Federation has always given the impression of being well-funded with their National Championships and supporting events being a bigger and grander affair than the British Championship Congress.

Any idiot can run things at a loss, as is frequently shown at Gigg Lane - the skill is putting on events that make a profit or at least break even

They've always been heavily supported financially by BNP Paribas, and I gather that part of their financial problems are caused by losing some of that money.

[David Sedgwick]

The official FFE statement, in French of course, is at http://www.echecs.asso.fr/Actu.aspx?Ref=9509.

[benedgell]

The General Assembly of the French Chess Federation held on 26th March voted to remove Diego Salazar from the post of the President.

First the President’s report was rejected with 635 votes against, 290 for and 57 abstentions. The financial report was rejected with similar majority 656 against, 173 for, 185 abstentions.

After the break for consultations, the Assembly voted the impeachment of President Salazar with big majority: 623 in favor, 92 abstentions, 303 against. An early election will be held in September 2016.

Diego Salazar was elected into office in April 2013.

Report compiled from various sources

Just out of curiosity, who gets to vote at these meetings?

[Roger de Coverly]

Just out of curiosity, who gets to vote at these meetings?

The French organisational structure is heavily club based, so much so that if a French resident, you aren't allowed to play in tournaments unless "licensed" at least notionally by a club. Thus it was representatives of clubs who turned up with votes and booted out the President.

It looks as if, like the ECF a few years ago, the FFE is likely to be short of money because of loss of sponsorship. The losing President seemed to be explaining this year's loss as being partly due to restructuring, presumably to cut base costs in the future by paying less in office expenses. Perhaps he should have informed his electorate this time last year if that was his intent. One of his other problems seems that he was only covering around 20% of the expenses of the National Championships out of entry fees and the anticipated sponsorship failed to materialise.

Google Translate is only a limited help in translating the documents, since a knowledge of French accounting terms appears necessary. I didn't really figure out whether the FFE has sufficient reserves to live out the problems of a one year loss of tens or hundreds of thousands of Euros, or whether it is now teetering on the edge of insolvency.

[harrylamb]

Just out of curiosity, who gets to vote at these meetings?

It is interesting to compare the voting rights at the ECF AGM with the FFE AGM. I think only clubs have voting rights at the French AGM. At the ECF AGM clubs are not allowed to vote.

But the proxy situation seems similar at both AGM.

The General Meeting... brought together 66 delegates representing 42.5% of the clubs of our federation and 51.5% of the vote"

On one of the votes these 66 delegates cast 1019 votes