Abdolmahdi Nasirzadeh: Sports Ministry Interference Has Destabilized Federation Elections

Abdolmahdi Nasirzadeh, former head of the Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation, criticized the conduct of federation elections and accused the Ministry of Sports of interfering in these bodies' internal affairs. He believes repetition of this trend will lead to managerial instability and called for strict enforcement of the law and transparency in electoral decisions.

The former head of the bodybuilding and bodybuilding federation, criticizing the performance of the Ministry of Sports in the process of holding federation elections, considered the interference of this ministry as the cause of managerial instability in sports and emphasized that the continuation of this process has affected the implementation of the law.

In an interview with Fars, the former head of the bodybuilding and bodybuilding federation, Abdul Mahdi Nasirzadeh, accused the Ministry of Sports of interfering in the election process and exercising personal taste, and said that the repetition of similar events shows that in some cases the law is not implemented properly.

The Ministry of Sports should not interfere in the affairs of federations

He added: "When we see similar incidents repeated many times, this shows that there are personal preferences and the law is not implemented as it should be." We have not witnessed such unfortunate events in the country's sports, and I believe that the Ministry of Sports should have a supervisory and supportive role, rather than interfering in the internal affairs of the federations.

Decisions are dictated by the ministry to the federations

Referring to the role of the Ministry of Sports in the election process of federations, he said that the organizer of the elections is the federation itself, but in practice, we see that some decisions are dictated by the Ministry of Sports. Even the meeting minutes of the matching commission are prepared with the federation's letterhead, but the decisions are made in such a way that they announce to the federation who is and who is not. In some cases, the meeting minutes are presented for signature later, without people having sufficient knowledge of all the details and documents.

On what basis was my qualification rejected?

He stated that in the bodybuilding federation elections, there were doubts about the qualification of candidates, and he said: Some people were approved that I believe were not qualified, and on the other hand, people who had the necessary conditions were not approved. The matching commission must review the candidates' conditions based on the regulations; including age conditions, educational qualifications, Iranian citizenship, not having an effective criminal conviction and managerial experience related to sports. I asked the officials to specify according to which section of the regulations my qualification was rejected.

Nasirzadeh continued: After my disqualification in the Implementation Commission, I pursued the issue in the Appeals Council, but my objection was not accepted. However, I believe that the decision made about me did not have a legal document. Any person who is found to be a violator must first prove his violation in a competent authority, and after issuing a judicial decision, all parties must comply with it. It is not possible to prevent an individual from participating in the elections just because of a personal disagreement or dissatisfaction.

The period of guardianship should become unstable

Referring to the state of the federations under supervision, the former head of the bodybuilding federation stated: This process causes managerial instability. When a federation enters a trusteeship period, the trustee is only responsible for a limited period of time and is usually unable to carry out long-term plans with confidence. In such a situation, important decisions and obligations of the federation also face difficulties. These issues should be clearly foreseen in the electoral regulations and instructions.

He added: About 120 days before some of these events, the heads of the federations protested against the federations going into the guardianship period and were worried about instability. The legal mechanism of elections should be in such a way that the federations can operate with stable management and advance their programs.

Changes in the composition of the assembly affected the outcome of the assembly

Referring to the composition of the bodybuilding federation election assembly, Nasirzadeh said: Our federation has about 24,000 clubs, but a limited number of clubs were present in the assembly. According to the regulations that were implemented earlier, the clubs that participated in the championship of the country's clubs at the highest level and had the permission of the Article Five Commission, should have been able to attend the assembly. Later it was announced that clubs should have legal personality.

Stating that the change in the conditions of the clubs' participation in the assembly affected its composition, he said: "If this matter had been announced clearly in advance, the clubs would have had the opportunity to correct their conditions." I believe that these changes affected the process of the assembly, but we tried to keep the atmosphere of the assembly calm and avoid confrontation.

Our approach has always been interaction, not confrontation with the government

The former head of the bodybuilding federation also said about the reaction of the members of the assembly: The members had objections to the events, but the conditions of the country were such that we did not want the issue to become a bigger issue. I myself tried to calm the situation and asked the members to participate in the meeting. Our approach has always been interaction, not confrontation with the government. However, when we feel that a right has been lost, we must pursue it through legal and judicial channels.

Referring to the case of the university federation, Nasirzadeh also said: I filed a complaint in that case and the verdict was in my favor. The decision in the appeal stage was confirmed and final and must be implemented now. Our expectation is that the opinions of the judicial authorities will be taken into consideration and the responsible institutions will act on them.

In the end, referring to the continuation of the elections of the bodybuilding federation, he said: I hope the Minister of Sports and Youth and the National Olympic Committee will enter into this matter and the situation will progress in such a way that the law will be fully implemented. We were supposed to talk about these issues with the Minister of Sports in the past days, and I hope that this conversation will take place in the coming days. I still believe that issues should be resolved through legal and interactive means.