(ATR) The Bahamas Olympic Association meeting planned for March 22 was called off and elections are now tentatively scheduled for April.

The meeting was initially planned for executive elections, which have been postponed several times since November. However, over the last few months, a financial audit and procedural disputes have stirred up so much friction within the BOA that March 22 was downgraded to a cooling-off meeting.

But the cooling-off meeting did not happen. Instead, the Executive Board met on March 21 and decided to hold elections sometime in April. A final date will be announced after the Bahamanian federations are notified.

Elections were supposed to be held November 30 but were postponed until March 15 pending a budget audit. After the financial records had been reviewed, a discrepancy in voting procedures was brought to the attention of the delegates. According to the Olympic Charter, the majority of those voting must be from federations. The March 15 meeting saw a majority of votes coming from the EB. Adding to the confusion, the BOA constitution prohibits incumbent EB members from voting.

Sir Arlington Butler, who has been president of the BOA for the past 35 years, has come under intense criticism from his executive board. The group were once staunch allies of the president. Adding to their frustration has been the way elections have been handled.

Reports indicate that the meeting, which was closed to the press, quickly devolved into name calling and almost e

Arlington Butler at the 2004 Olympics. (ATR)

BOA VP Rev. Enoch Backford is challenging Butler for the presidency. Backford says “Butler appears to be dishonest” about the elections and that he is “most confident” he will be elected—if proper voting mechanisms are used.

Butler has come under fire in recent years by many on the executive board for not doing enough to promote sport in the Bahamas. They claim Butler has used the BOA as his own party circuit around the world. Butler dismissed these charges, saying, "I am continuously working to improve sports in The Bahamas and the international community." He added, "It would take tremendous imagination to look back at my record as president of the BOA and say that you see nothing in that."

The disorganization has caused Butler to lose the support of almost the entire executive board. Reports indicate that nine of the 11 members of the EB do not support Butler in his re-election. He does however, have almost unanimous support among the federations.

Butler has said this will be his last term as BOA president. Critics say he will use this term to personally groom a young federation president as his heir. Basketball Chief Larry Wilson, softball head Romell “Fish” Knowles or swimming President Algernon Cargill are believed to be among Butler’s favorites.

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