FCA INFORMATION BULLETIN No. 8 - 2020 August 22, 2020
FCA ELECTIONS
In an official announcement to be released soon, the FIE Executive Committee already approved to postpone this November’s schedule of the FIE Elective Congress until after the Summer Olympic Games next year. Despite this however, each continental Confederation must decide on their Elections that is consistent with their own Statutes.
After reviewing the current FCA Statutes therefore, the FCA Executive Board recently decided and approved to also POSTPONE our Elections to 2021, in accordance with the provisions relevant to our Elections, as follows:
a. Article 6, Sec. 2 pertains to the elected members of the Executive Board “at the Election Meeting of the FCA once every four years”
b. Article 6, Sec. 3 prescribes that Board members “hold office until the next Election Meeting which shall coincide with the year in which the Summer Olympic Games are held”
c. Article 7, Sec. 1 says “. . . Election Meetings shall be during the year of the Summer Olympic Games and preferably held at least two months before the scheduled FIE Elective Congress and at a City where a major Asian fencing championships is held”
d. The legal opinion of our lawyers opined that while “the term of the officers is 4 years (Article 6, Sec. 2)… their tenure may actually be longer since they hold office until the Election meeting which MUST be during the year of the Olympic Games (Article 6, Sec. 3 and Article 7, Sec. 1) . . . which in this case is moved to 2021”.
Consequently therefore, the FCA Elections will be moved to 2021 “which is the year in which the Summer Olympic Games” in Tokyo is re-scheduled, and to be held in conjunction with the 2021 Asian Under-23 Fencing Championships in Taipei City.
2020 FCA GENERAL ASSEMBLY
As previously scheduled, the 2020 FCA General Assembly and elections should be held in Taipei on October 13 and immediately followed by the Asian Under-23 Fencing Championships. Because of this Covid-19 pandemic we already cancelled the AU23 and postponed the Elections until 2021.
Notwithstanding, we need to submit to our member federations our annual reports for 2020, after they have been approved by the FCA Executive Board. These year’s reports will include those of the President, the Secretary General, and the Treasurer, as well as the Minutes of its previous meeting held in Amman Jordan in 2019. A listing of the FCA calendar for 2021 will also be presented, which are largely our 2020 events that were moved to next year.
While it is possible to arrange on October 13 our General Assembly meeting via video conference among the FCA’s 38 member federations, there are the following concerns: the availability of reliable internet connections in all countries, the difference in time zones, need for translation for some participants, and the complications in identifying and verifying the authorized delegates of each federation. Moreover, it is also uncertain if we can have enough participants to ensure a quorum.
In view of this, the Executive Board decided to have our 2020 FCA General Assembly VIRTUALLY by simply forwarding to all our federations through EMAIL the pertinent reports and other documents after these have been approved by the Executive Board.
Please be guided accordingly, as we hope for all of us to be able to meet together again soon. In the meantime, let us keep safe and healthy, knowing that this pandemic will come to pass. Thank you for your understanding and collaboration.
Dr. CELSO L. DAYRIT
President
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