Voting in the IFA election for a new President will take place in April, the Executive Council has agreed at its meeting tonight.
In the meeting it was agreed in principle to allow the rule change to allow the Presidential election be pushed back beyond 60 days.
Voting is expected to take place over approximately 10 days and then the official count but no official dates for the voting or count has been agreed or set. There will be new leadership of the IFA by the end of April, a spokesman for the IFA said.
Today’s meeting also agreed in principle that the current members of the Executive Board be allowed run for re-election.
The move would also see the IFA terms of office for senior positions revert to being a two-year term.
In a statement released on Monday, the IFA Executive Board says it has agreed to facilitate a full round of fresh elections for all National Officer positions which would take place at the same time as the IFA Presidential Election in spring 2016.
IFA President Race
Meanwhile, Monaghanman Nigel Renaghan announced he was withdrawing from the race to become President and would concentrate on gaining a nomination to run for the role of Deputy President.
Tipperaryman Tim Cullinan also withdrew from the race on Tuesday.
Henry Burns and Joe Healy both have the required five signatures along with the backing of their own counties to submit their nominations to run by tomorrow evening. That leaves Derek Deane, Tim O’Leary and Flor McCarthy fighting it out for the final two places.
IFA Official Statement
Here’s the official statement as release by IFA tonight in relation to the decisions made at today’s National Executive meeting. For the rule change to take place regarding it must now be voted on by the Executive Council in 28 days time, hence it being ‘in principle’ for the time being.
The IFA Executive Council today (Tues) decided to set the end of April as the timeline for full elections for President and all national positions of the Association. It should be noted that all County Executives AGMs and County Officer elections will also be completed by 31st March.
The meeting re-affirmed that the Executive Council is the Governing Body of the Association and will be the collective leadership of the IFA until the election of the new President in April. It was agreed that the Executive Council will meet and lead the Association between now and the elections, as necessary.
The Council decided to give all members and County Executives the opportunity to decide the future leadership of the IFA through the democratic election process.
The Executive Council agreed in principle that the existing rules would be changed so that all top IFA positions – President, Deputy President, the four Regional Chairmen and the National Treasurer/Returning Officer – would be on the basis of two (2) two-year terms of office.
As previously announced, the deadline for nominations for President is 5.30pm tomorrow, Wed, 6th January.
The Executive Council also approved a Code of Conduct for the elections. Voting is scheduled to take place in early April.