Fourteen candidates to be part of ORU Fogar's Bureau

The deadline for submitting nominations to the ORU Fogar Bureau for the next few years was the 1st of November. At the end of the deadline, there were 14 nominations, representing regions, and networks of regions, from Europe, America and Africa. In accordance with ORU Fogar's Statutes and with Communiqué 70 calling for elections, the election will take place on December 2019.

The only candidate for president is the current president Abdessamad Sekkal, also president of the Regional Council of Rabat Salé Kénitra. Laurent Wauquiez, who is president of the French region Auvergne Rhône Alpes and president of the AIRF (International Association of Francophone Regions), is also a candidate for first vice-president.

The presidents of four Latin American  networks have submitted their candidacies as members-at-large: Pablo Jurado, Ecuadorian and prefect of Imbabura, as president of CONGOPE; Marcelo Carrasco, president of ANCORE and counsellor of Araucanía, Chile; Juan Luís Manzur, governor of Tucumán, Argentina, as president of ZICOSUR; and the Paraguayan Lucio Vera, president of AJUDEPA.

The African networks are also represented by the candidatures of Adama Diouf, president of the region of Kaffrine and of the Association of Departments of Senegal; the governor of Kakamega County, Wycliffe Oparanya, president of the Council of Governors of Kenya; the president of the Region of Sud Comoé, Eugène Aka Aouelé, president of the ARDCI of Cote d'Ivôre; as well as Mostapha Slisli, representing Région de l'Oriental, Morocco.

Besides the candidacy of the first vice-president, Europe will be present in the ORU Fogar Bureau through Leyre Madariaga on behalf of the Basque Government, Quim Torra, president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, and Ann-Sofie Backgren, Finnish president of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR).

Together with AEBR, the representation of thematic networks is enriched with the candidacy of Regions4, the network of regions for sustainability, which presents as candidates for its double presidency: the Ecuadorian prefect of Azuay, Yaku Pérez, and the Basque councillor Iñaki Arriola.

Now that the application period is closed, ORU Fogar’s Secretariat must proceed to analyse whether the applications are in accordance with the statutes, so that the ORU Fogar Bureau can submit a proposal to the assembly. 

Article 7.2 of the Statutes regulates that the Bureau must be composed of a minimum of ten members, ensuring the geographical and thematic representativeness of the Organization. The candidacies presented ensure both the fixed minimum and the representativeness.