Watching those proceedings via the little miracle that is You Tube one could discern that, in the semi-darkened room full of delegates where only the top table was clearly illuminated, there were seismic forces at work. Illumination does not always equal transparency.

On the face of it the biggest task of the day appeared simple.

Having been elected comfortably last June to take up the remaining term as FIS President that Gian-Franco Kasper, incumbent for 23 years, had relinquished because of ill health, Swedish billionaire Johan Eliasch was up to be re-elected for the next full four-year term - and his was the only name on the ballot paper.

Dexter Paine of the United States, the soon-to-be voted out vice-president, proposed a vote by acclamation, as had been approved by the Council meeting the previous day, adding: "If you want a vote you have the chance to speak right now."

And it turned out that, yes, a vote was required, and that that was not all.

Austria’s Christian Scherer firstly spoke from the floor, acting as a representative for 15 National Associations - including some of the sport’s major countries such as Austria, Germany and Switzerland - that had sent a letter backing the option of voting yes, no or abstaining.

Thereafter the position was taken up by Croatia's Vedran Pavlek and there followed an increasingly tense exchange between him and the FIS legal advisor Stephan Netzle, acting as the electoral director, who maintained: "a valid ballot is a ballot which contains the name or names of the candidates for the open slots."

"There is no yes and no," Netzle added.

"If you do not want to support the name on the ballot then you can simply abstain."

Pavlek replied: "In this case we are not in accordance with democratic process.

"Delegates can only express the opinion 'yes'.

"So I am asking all those in agreement with me to leave the room."

At which point there was a scraping of chairs and a number of those who had signed the letter departed the proceedings.

At the heart of the discontent of the major ski nations is Eliasch's plan to centralise the marketing of FIS World Cup events, stripping Member Associations of the rights.

The strongest resistance has come, naturally enough, from the traditional heartlands of the sport which host the majority of World Cup events and where there is strong reluctance to give up marketing control of their events or their slots on future race calendars.

Court battles with the Swiss agency Infront, which has partnered FIS since 2009, have been a feature of the first year in office for Eliasch, who has a British passport and was initially nominated by the GB Snowsport . 

The rulings have so far gone his way but the subject matter itself of FIS taking over back ownership of allocated rights has still to be examined by the court.

Netzle won no prizes for diplomacy with his comments to Pavlek at the Congress as he became increasingly irritable and, frankly, patronising.

But one had to ask the question - if people were so unhappy, why was there no challenger to Eliasch, who stood down as chief executive of sporting goods manufacturer Head, which he owns, after being taking up his current role?

Eilasch is a successful businessman bringing methods you might describe as dynamic or brutal - depending on how you viewed them - to a sport that has had nearly a quarter of a century of going largely its own way. Or ways.

It was not as if his plans - if not the means by which he intends to bring them about - were not clear from the start.

Eliasch promised to change race formats and presentation, as well as pledging to bring commercial rights in-house to gain FIS more control and revenue.

At the extraordinary Congress convened last October the FIS statutes were altered to offer what was billed as "additional flexibility to adapt its rights structure", and this was the sole issue delegates asked for assurances over before casting their votes.

"This new framework is essential to promote good, modern and transparent governance and to be able to actively shape our future according to your wishes and our collective ideas," Eliasch said at the time.

"I am excited about the prospect of striving towards a much-improved commercial future and completely new opportunities.

"We will increase our revenues and thus distribute more money to our national snow sport associations, our members and increase prize money available to our athletes.

"We will be able to promote all our disciplines equally through a more transparent broadcasting commitment, boost talent development, make our sport more accessible to a broader audience.

"We would be able to increase our value and global presence for the benefit of athletes, fans and our sports."

Also at that October Congress there was a change in the statutes to the timing over candidates for the Presidency:

10.10.1.1. Candidates for the offices of the President or the Council: a) must be proposed by a Member Association no later than sixty (60) days before the Congress. Candidates must hold a valid passport with the nationality of their nominating Member Association.

Sixty days from October 8 still left plenty of time for someone to propose themselves as a challenger to Eliasch taking up a four-year term. 

For whatever reasons - perhaps fear of failure - no one did.

The actions of the protesting nations last week have been described in some quarters as an attempted "coup".

As things turned out, there was no likelihood of such a thing happening. 

That said Eliasch received a less than fulsome acclamation, gaining 70 votes from the 117 available - only five more than he had received when dispensing with the opposition of three rivals in the first round of voting last June.

It was more of an acknowledgement than an acclamation, given that his total was less than the least strongly supported member of the new 18-strong Council received in the subsequent section of the Congress.

That Council voting produced one expected and one surprising result. 

The expected part was the removal of Russian Cross-Country Ski Association President Elena Vyalbe, who received the least votes - 48 from a possible 117.

The triple Olympic cross-country skiing champion was elected to the FIS Council last year but her recent support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine brought calls from a number of European Ski Federations objecting to her participation in the latest election.

Her nomination was publicly opposed by the representatives of Sweden, Poland and Finland.

Russian and Belarusian athletes were suspended from participating in competitions under the auspices of the FIS in March.

The unexpected - indeed, unprecedented - event was the failure of Paine, who had been chairing the meeting and who was regarded as one of the new President’s most enthusiastic followers, to retain his place on the Council.

Paine gained 74 votes - the third fewest of all the prospective or incumbent Council members.

Eliasch also lost another important supporter, Austria's Peter Schröcksnadel, who at the age of 80 had decided not to seek re-election to the FIS Council and was replaced by Patrick Ortlieb, the 1992 Olympic downhill champion.

So it was hardly the smoothest of downhill runs for Eliasch - but he crossed the line as expected.

That said the seismic disturbances are continuing to be felt in the form of local rumblings.

The Head of Communications for the German Ski Federation (DSV), Stefan Schwarzbach has threatened that the dissatisfied Federations could take the matter further.

"An election in which delegates had only one option to vote validly, namely to vote yes, does not correspond to our understanding of the law and is only a farce," Schwarzbach said.

"In the opinion of our legal experts, such an approach does not comply with Swiss association law.

"Along with many other Member Associations, we made this clear in writing before the election.

"After our candidacy was not approved, the DSV, together with other associations, did not participate in the election.

"As also announced in advance in writing, we are now having the entire process checked and we reserve the right to take legal action."

Bernhard Aregger, the managing director of Swiss Ski, confirmed that they are already investigating whether they can take action to get Eliasch's re-election invalidated.

The FIS statutes appear to support Eliasch, however.

The section relating to Election of the President 10.10.2.1 states: "The President shall be elected by a majority of more than 50% of all valid votes cast."

Speaking to delegates after the vote, Eliasch said:

"Thank you for your support and trust and for this clear mandate to continue our path to lead snowsports into a bright and successful future. 

"The past year has shown what is possible when we work together on our goals.

"But the past year has also shown that this can and must only be the beginning. We need change. We need transformation. 

"We represent 137 nations and our task is to take control of our own destiny again so that we are able to create the best conditions for all of us. That’s my mission. 

"This is your vote to move forward along that path.

"This will create a better framework, a better platform for the benefit of us all to develop and promote our sport. 

"So I really look forward to shaping this new era of FIS together with all of you.

"It is an era of independence, of unlimited possibilities of growth and strength. 

"We have a hell of a journey awaiting us, so let’s make it a successful and rewarding one.

"Lastly let me emphasise one thing. Change is not easy. 

"We are all entitled to have our own different opinions. But the main thing is that we remain strong together to get to the next level."

Asked to summarise his feelings following the acrimony over his election on Thursday, Eliasch told insidethegames: "Everyone is entitled to express their opinion. However, the election was conducted according to our statutes.

"I was elected FIS President with a clear mandate for change, including that FIS shall be a federation for all our members and not only for a chosen few.

"Change is necessary in order to further develop our sport and keep it competitive.

"The fundamental issue is the centralisation of the media and broadcast rights which is necessary for taking control of our destiny again and lay the foundation for the growth and prosperity of all our disciplines everywhere.

"Most international federations did this already and for FIS this transformation is long overdue.

"I clearly communicated in my manifesto that I will be a President of change and that there will be no status quo with me. 

"The wish for transformation and modernisation met with great approval, and now we are all working together tirelessly to implement it."

While the FIS does not proceed like other International Federations on the basis of one equal vote for each national federation, the possibility is always there for the key and powerful nations to be outvoted by an aggregation of smaller units. 

For good or ill, it is a well known pattern at this level of international sport.

Parallels have been drawn with the modus operandi of FIFA. 

Eliasch, meanwhile, has made no secret of his admiration of the Formula One method of centralised marketing and it has been reported that he has sought the advice of F1’s former chief, Bernie Ecclestone, whom he appointed last year to the "future of alpine skiing" Working Group.

Speaking last week to the Associated Press, Eliasch referred to the Netflix hit programme that takes viewers behind the F1 scenes: "We need a television show like 'Drive to Survive,' he said. 

"We can't do that because we don't have the (broadcast) rights."

Eliasch also said that FIS had sufficient cash to give "cast-iron guarantees" to member federations of matching their current deals with Infront, adding: "We can back it up any day of the week."

Speaking more generally about the recent Congress, Eliasch told insidethegames:

"We held a successful Congress and important decisions were made.

"The FIS Council approved an increase of our yearly distribution to the NSAs by 15%. 

"This will help all our members to further develop and promote our sport.

"In addition, FIS is taking over the governance and management of the Para Snowsports disciplines. 

"FIS stands for inclusion, for diversity and for sustainability. Therefore, it is a great pleasure to welcome Para Snowsports into the FIS family.

"Furthermore, our goals are clear. We need change and we continue to work tirelessly to bring this change in order to lead snowsports into a successful future.

"The centralisation of our World Cup media and broadcast rights is key to that. Together with our member associations and stakeholders we will find the best way to move forward on this topic."

Eliasch’s original manifesto contained the following proposals that illustrated how he planned to support "the many":

"I propose that we arrange for the equipment manufacturers to supply competitive equipment at low cost which should be accessible to all NSAs.

"Reducing cost and complexity I propose that we review our calendar to minimise travel costs and complexity, with added benefits for our athletes and their support teams."

He explained further: "Facilitating access to snow sports and thereby opening our sport to wide parts of the world is key to its future. When boosting talent, the focus should not be on financial possibilities and background, but on performance and enthusiasm for the sport.

"If we really want to use the great potential of our sport, we have to support especially less developed countries with know-how and tailor-made programmes so that they are able to grow.

"For this reason, we also created a platform that gives all nations the opportunity to order homologated equipment for FIS races at significantly reduced prices. 

"This helps developing countries and aspiring athletes to get top equipment at affordable costs and is an important step to expand our FIS disciplines worldwide."

And Eliasch has other ideas about how to raise the overall profile of the sport:

"We are working flat out to improve our output and digitize our products, taking into account all new technological possibilities and format proposals. 

"One idea we are looking at is the FIS Games, which would take place every four years and bring together athletes from all FIS disciplines.

"More than half of the Olympic medals are awarded in FIS disciplines. 

"We want to use this potential and increase engagement, reach and income by organizing an event that pays tribute to the diversity and fascination FIS disciplines offer."

Meanwhile the Working Group set up to develop new concepts and initiatives with the aim of making Alpine skiing "more attractive" has come back with ideas including more weekly night competitions and revising the format of the Alpine combined events and indoor races in the summer.

"The Working Group has worked intensively on new concepts," Eliasch said.

"But the implementation is a process that has to be done step by step because we want to involve all stakeholders. That takes time. 

"We are in close contact with our committees, whose experience is an important pillar of our work. 

"But Zermatt/Cervinia as the first cross-border World Cup host as early as next season is a good start."

That cross-border downhill course for men and women, which will start in Switzerland and finish in Italy, was set for 2023 but has been brought forward.

"I think even those people who don't like me, they also want to have a great product," Eliasch told AP. 

"So there is no dispute there."

The belated re-branding of the FIS name offers a possible template of how Eliasch will manage to change things in the sport. 

At the Extraordinary Congress members voted by 57 votes to 51 in favour of "International Ski and Snowboard Federation" as opposed to "International Snowsports Federation".

But the subsequent vote over whether the original FIS name should change - the initials were always proposed to remain the same - required a two-thirds majority, and failed to receive it.

So we came back to Milan. And now the name is installed.

The re-branding is emblematic of Eliasch’s desire to bring everyone under the same roof. As the man says - change is not easy.