Vatanen Accuses Mosley of Breaking the Election Law

With only a week remaining until the FIA elections, the battle for the presidency of the ruling body tends to become even more personal. As we've reported yesterday, a series of leaked emails delivered by officials of the FIA to some of the member clubs showed that the ruling body has been lobbying for Jean Todt in the presidential fight so far.

According to the French law, neutrality is a sine-qua-non element of any elections that take part within the borders of the country – the FIA is headquartered in Paris – which means the ruling body may be accused of breaking the law. Also, current FIA president Max Mosley consistently lobbied for Jean Todt in recent weeks, both publicly and via the private discussions with some of the member clubs.

In addition to that, Mosley reportedly kicked Todt's counter-candidate for the job, Ari Vatanen, from a FIA meeting this week, as the Finn's campaign focuses on criticizing the current regime imposed by the 69-year old Englishman.

“The breach of this principle of neutrality during election campaigns, when aimed at distorting the results of the election, is punishable by all of the French courts. I reserve all right to take action on account of the act previously committed against me,” wrote Vatanen in a letter to the FIA, delivered by a French bailiff (huissier de justice) on Thursday.

Also, the 1981 WRC champion denied the allegations made by Todt in recent days that he uses dirty tactics to get to the FIA seat next week.

“Many people have contacted me and asked what it means when others are accusing my campaign to be dirty. My answer is very simple – if I speak about change, democracy and transparency, it seems to be wrong and it is taken as a personal insult against all the people who have been involved with the FIA before these elections. It can be seen as an old school election tactics, but is still amazing,” added Vatanen.