BACKGROUND: The IOC voting process for the 2018 Winter Games host

Jul 5, 2011, 9:48 GMT

Durban, South Africa - Topping the agenda at the 123rd session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Durban will be the election and announcement of the host city for the 2018 Winter Games.

South Korea's Pyeongchang, which has twice before bid to host the games is considered the favourite, with Munich running a close second. France's Annecy, which is the third venue bidding, is given little hope of success.

The Olympic hosts are elected by the IOC members, of which there are currently 110.

IOC President Jacques Rogge has elected not to cast a vote, while the six IOC members from the competing countries (Thomas Bach and Claudia Bokel from Germany, Jean-Claude Killy and Guy Drut from France, as well as South Koreans Lee Kun-hee and Moon Dae-sung) are not allowed to vote as long as 'their' host cities remain in the running.

The president of the International Rowing Federation, Denis Oswald, whose organization entered into a sponsorship agreement with South Korean company Samsung last year, has also elected not to vote due to a possible perceived conflict of interest.

A further six members have already announced that they will not be in Durban, leaving 96 IOC members eligible to vote in the first round.

A simple majority is needed to win the election, thus if all 96 members are present, 49 votes for any of the three bidding cities would be enough to win the election.

Should none of the three cities receive enough votes, a second round of voting will take place, where the winning number of votes would increase to 50 as the IOC delegates from the eliminated bidder would be allowed vote.

In the unlikely event of two cities receiving the same number of votes in the final round of voting, the IOC executive would decide the winner.

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