Ward congratulates Todt

David Ward has sent a message of congratulations to Jean Todt after the Frenchman's uncontested and unanimous re-election as president of the FIA, the governing body of world motorsport.

Ward, who withdrew from the 2013 FIA presidential election contest last month, after failing to 'secure the required number of regional Vice Presidents for Sport to ensure the eligibility of his list', added that he now hopes certain reforms will be implemented to improve 'the transparency, accountability and democracy' of the FIA.

An open letter reads:

Dear Jean,

Congratulations on your re-election to serve as President of the FIA. It is encouraging that in your manifesto 'The Way Forward' you envisage further inquiries into the governance of the FIA by the Statues Review Commission (SRC).

As the recently published report by 'I Trust Sport' shows, quite simple steps such as publishing an annual financial report and applying international accounting standards would raise the FIA's governance to the same level as FIFA and the IOC.

I also hope that the statute amendments proposed by a number of clubs regarding the removal of Vice Presidents for Sport in the election list and reducing the size of the nominating threshold will be given careful consideration.

I trust that in your second mandate you will not discourage the SRC from examining these reform proposals. If adopted I believe they would certainly make a substantial contribution to the transparency, accountability and democracy of the FIA.

Yours sincerely

David Ward.