Fifteen directors have been elected to the board of the International Co-operative Alliance. New Board has no representative from India, though small countries with weaker cooperative movements have found a place in the Board. Experts wonder how this happened and blame Indian team for not working in unison.
All the cooperators which mean voters were present in Cape Town since 30th October and a golden chance to influence them in favour of India was lost, they point out. We were about thirty cooperators and we could have formed a team of two and earmarked countries to work upon, one of the Indian cooperators told Indian Cooperative on condition of anonymity.
Readers would be aware that cooperative giant IFFCO has nominated N P Patel to contest the poll. “Patel was a weak candidate. There was problem in taking him to dais and he continued to speak even though the mike was put off signaling his old age and inability to be in tune with the time”, said one of the Indian participants.
Had it been US Awasthi or for that matter G N Saxena, Indian would have won hands down, he added.
At its General Assembly in Cape Town, the Alliance’s members took part in one of the highest-contested elections in recent times with 31 candidates standing for the board. Delegates from each of the four regions of the Alliance — Africa, Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe — were elected.
Dame Pauline Green from the United Kingdom was elected unopposed as the Alliance’s President. Likewise, the regional vice-presidents, who are all elected by their regional assemblies, were ratified. The Alliance’s vice-presidents are Stanley Charles Muchire – Vice-President for Africa; Ramón Imperial Zúñiga – Vice-President for Americas; Li Chungseng Vice-President for Asia-Pacific; and Dirk Lenharrt Vice-President for Europe.
Those elected to the board are:
Argentina: Dr Ariel Guarco Nominated by COOPERAR
Australia: Gregory Wall Nominated by Capricorn Society Limited
Brazil: Dr Eudes de Freitas Aquino ? Nominated by OCB
Bulgaria: Petar Stefanov Nominated by Central Cooperative Union
Canada: Monique Leroux Nominated by Conseil canadien de la coope?ration et de la mutualite?
Finland: Anne Santama?ki Nominated by SOK Corporation
France: Jean-Louis Bancel ? Nominated by Coop FR
Italy: Carlo Scarzanella Nominated by Associazione Generale Cooperative Italiane
Japan: Akira Banzai Nominated by JA-Zenchu
Korea: Won-Byung Choi Nominated by NACF
Russia: Evgeny Kuznetsov Nominated by Centrosojuz
Singapore: Seah Kian Peng Nominated by Singapore National Co-operative Federation
Sweden: Jan Anders Lago Nominated by HSB & KF
United Kingdom: Len Wardle Nominated by The Co-operative Group & Co-operatives UK
USA: Martin Lowery Nominated by National Cooperative Business Association
-With input from Cooperative News