Louise Martin bids for Commonwealth Games presidency

SCOTLAND’s Louise Martin has confirmed that she will stand for the presidency of the Commonwealth Games Federation in September, running against the incumbent, Prince Imran of Malaysia.

Louise Martin. Picture: Jane Barlow

The current honorary secretary of the CGF, Martin is also chair of Sport Scotland and was vice-chair of the Glasgow 2014 organising committee. She already has support from a number of Commonwealth countries for the election, which will be decided by a simple majority of the 72 member nations.

“I’ve been thinking about it for six months,” she said yesterday. “I was asked to stand by a number of different countries last year, and asked again just before Christmas.

“I thought and thought about it, and I feel the time is right for me now. The Federation has been my life for so long – I just love the Commonwealth Games.

“My role ceases to exist in September but, in any case, having done that role for four terms I really felt it was time to move on. I feel I would be wrong to go for one of the vice-president posts.

“I’ve led a successful bid for the Games, and we have hosted a successful Games, too. I still feel I’ve got an awful lot to offer, and being the president is certainly no more onerous than the work I’ve been doing.”

Just as bidding cities have to stress their own virtues as potential Games hosts rather than picking faults with their rivals, so Martin will run a positive campaign in which she explains what she will bring to the job rather than criticising Prince Imran. “I get along very well with him,” she continued. “He’s a friend and I respect everything he’s done. I had to make a decision about myself and, in my opinion, if I had stood for the vice-presidency, I would have been doing a similar thing to what I was doing before.

“It’s a democratic organisation and there will be a competition – otherwise why would we have elections every four years? There could be other people wanting to stand: I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Martin’s campaign programme has yet to be finalised, but she will be keen to encourage more countries to bid for the Games. Durban is the only bidder for the 2022 Games following the withdrawal of Edmonton last month. The presidential election will take place at the CGF’s general assembly in Auckland.