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If Villars wins her case, the presidential process would likely be stopped until the conclusion of an investigation into what needs to change at the FIA in terms of governance processes. If that took longer than the time left before the election, Ben Sulayem would stay in power but with a caretaker mandate that would prevent him making any significant decisions or changes. The courts could put in place an external caretaker to ensure that is what happened. Villars' argument rests on the process by which FIA election rules have blocked rival candidates to Ben Sulayem. Presidential candidates must submit a list of their prospective vice-presidents for sport, which must be selected from each of the FIA's six global regions and from a list of candidates eligible to sit on the FIA world motorsport council. But this year's world council list contains only one candidate from South America - Brazilian Fabiana Ecclestone, wife of former F1 boss Bernie, and she is a member of Ben Sulayem's team. That prevents any other candidate from naming a potential vice-president for sport from South America, which means no-one else can enter the election. Fellow candidate Tim Mayer accused the FIA of "lacking transparency" and "the illusion of democracy" when he said this month he was abandoning his campaign for the presidency. In response, an FIA spokesperson said: "The FIA presidential election is a structured and democratic process, to ensure fairness and integrity at every stage." However Mayer told BBC Sport on Wednesday: "As we disclosed in Austin, Texas, we have submitted ethics complaints in relation to the election. To date we have not even received an acknowledgement from the FIA. "This is typical of our experience of the handling of the election by the FIA and mirrors the experience of Laura's campaign." The election process has been challenged twice before. Briton David Ward succeeded in getting an injunction when he stood against Jean Todt in 2013, and former rally driver Ari Vatanen entered mediation when he challenged Todt in 2009 following Max Mosley's decision not to run again. Both men lost out in the election.
