INFO LE FIGARO – The opposition list, 100% Rugby, contacted the FFR ethics committee to report the appearance of Florian Grill in a live broadcast the day after the official end of the campaign.
The rules for the elections to the presidency of the FFR are clear. The campaign ended Tuesday October 15 at midnight. After this date, the two candidates – the outgoing president Florian Grill and his opponent, Didier Codorniou – no longer had the right to speak publicly, whether in the media or during campaign meetings.
However, Florian Grill was the guest, Wednesday October 16 at the end of the day, on the show ”Via Midol, Des Mauls et Débats”, broadcast live on the Rugbyrama and Via Occitanie sites. A violation of the electoral code that Didier Codorniou’s team had noted by a bailiff before referring, once again, the Ethics Committee of the FFR “for transgression of the electoral code”.
This Committee, previously contacted for a message deemed slanderous by the vice-president of the FFR, and number 2 on the Grill list, Jean-Marc Lhermet, had agreed at the start of the week with 10%% Rugby, as revealed by Le Figaro. “The Commission for the Surveillance of Electoral Operations (CSOE) considered that the request presented to it mainly called into question the assessment of respect for the ethical and professional principles of French rugby”estimated the press release obtained by Le Figaro. The Federal Committee of Ethics and Professional Conduct of French Rugby had “asked Jean-Marc Lhermet to please proceed with its immediate deletion”.
“A full binder” of grounds for appeal
This first decision, and undoubtedly the one to come on participation in a Florian Grill show outside the authorized campaign period, will offer possibilities of appeal to Didier Codorniou’s clan in the event of defeat this Saturday (verdict at half past noon) . His team told Le Figaro that they “a full binder” grounds for appeal, from the serious computer bug that occurred this Friday morning at the opening of electronic voting to the suspicions of pre-electoral meetings (150 in all…) of the Grill camp which would have been “financially supported by the FFR”.
“They used the means of the Federation”tells us 100% Rugby, ensuring that Jean-Marc Lhermet, the vice-president of the FFR, and Jordan Roux, member of the steering committee in charge of Territoriality, also held “electoral meetings” and took a public position in the press and on social networks in favor of Florian Grill even though, paid by the FFR, they are required to remain neutral.
According to our information, the Codorniou camp does not intend to let all these shortcomings go unaddressed and will introduce several appeals to contest the result of the election in the event of defeat of the opposition candidate this Saturday.
