Former Swiss President Ueli Maurer has been proposed for election to the IOC Ethics Commission ©IOC

Switzerland's former President Ueli Maurer has been proposed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board here for election to its Ethics Commission.

He would succeed Samuel Schmid if approved by IOC members in a postal vote, after his term came to an end and could not be renewed having served his maximum length of time on the Commission.

Schmid was also a former President of the Swiss Confederation, a first among equals role on the Swiss Federal Council.

IOC President Thomas Bach said that the Executive Board was "very pleased and privilege to propose to the Session Mr Ulrich Maurer".

Maurer, the current Minister of Finance, is set to step down from the Federal Council at the end of 2022 with a view to starting on the IOC Ethics Commission on January 1 next year.

The 72-year-old, an accountant by profession, has served on the Federal Council since 2009 and as President in 2013 and 2019.

Maurer was one of the officials present at the inauguration of Olympic House in Lausanne in 2019.

Samuel Schmid's term on the IOC Ethics Commission has expired ©Getty Images
Samuel Schmid's term on the IOC Ethics Commission has expired ©Getty Images

The postal vote among IOC members to rubber-stamp his appointment is set to be held "in the next couple of days", Bach revealed.

The Ethics Commission is chaired by former United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon.

IOC members Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant, Laura Chinchilla, Auvita Rapilla and Pau Gasol serve on the Ethics Commission.

Maurer would become its fifth independent member, joining Ban, Ireland's Patricia O'Brien, her country's Ambassador to Italy, China's Hanqin Xue, vice-president of the International Court of Justice, and Kenya's former Sports Minister Amina Mohamed.

The IOC's Ethics Commission was established in 1999 in the wake of the Salt Lake City 2002 bribery scandal "to safeguard the ethical principles of the Olympic Movement" laid out in the Code of Ethics.

The IOC Ethics Commission has not communicated any decision since clearing FIFA President Gianni Infantino of wrongdoing in February 2021 following claims he had breached the Olympic Charter.

Before that, its last decision was in November 2020 to clear World Triathlon President Marisol Casado during the International Federation's election after she was accused of having committed "gross and multiple violations of the values, principles and regulations" of the Olympic Charter.