Cities prepare for 2020 Olympics verdict

Tokyo, Istanbul and Madrid to contest in voting today.

BUENOS AIRES: Tokyo, Istanbul and Madrid were preparing to celebrate or commiserate their 2020 Olympics bids yesterday, as political leaders from all three countries make a final push to clinch the Games.

Members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) vote today in Buenos Aires. Bookmakers have Tokyo just in front of Madrid as favourites with the eagerly-awaited result to be beamed live across the world.

Questions over safety have dogged Tokyo’s bid, however, because of the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant after the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami while Madrid has faced fears about the state of Spain’s recession-hit economy.



Istanbul, meanwhile, has been in the spotlight after a heavy-handed crackdown on anti-government protesters earlier this year and the bloody conflict in Turkey’s neighbour Syria. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayip Erdogan and Spanish premier Mariano Rajoy were all due in the Argentine capital today in a last-ditch effort to persuade IOC members of their cases.

The voting system

The voting system will see 103 IOC members cast their opinions.

IOC president Jacques Rogge and honorary members do not vote. The first round will have 98 potential voters as members from bid city countries will be ineligible, thus three from Spain and one each from Japan and Turkey cannot vote.

Should one city gain the majority of votes then the contest will be over. However, if no city has majority then the one with the lowest number of votes will be eliminated and the IOC members can then vote in the second and final round.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2013.

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