Let me start with two presumptions; firstly, there isn't present in
the Society an overall agreement or consensus on what the role or job
of the President is or should be; and secondly, the actual election
process is probably going on as all previous ones but with the
distinction that it became open to the public because of the internet
and that this fact has created the situations to which we aren't
accustomed to and therefore much of tension.

According to the Rules and Regulations of the Theosophical Society
the President has a lot of duties and responsibilities: she/he is
Executive Officer and conducts and directs the business of the
Society, she/he is Chairman of the General Council and the Executive
Committee and therefore actively involved in the preparation of all
necessary documents and decisions of these bodies; she/he is
custodian of all archives and records of the Society; she/he makes
temporary appointments in the offices of the Society; she/he co-
receives all subscriptions, donations and other moneys; she/he have
control over the securities and invested funds of the Society, over
the transfer of assets of the Society, investments, disposal of Adyar
Estate, and so on, and over all related documents; she/he sues in the
name of the Society; she/he issues the permissions to reside in the
Adyar Estate; she/he issues the Charters and Diplomas, and so on.

Now, the branch of medicine which occupies itself with the fitness
for the jobs is Occupational Medicine and is directed by
corresponding specialists who execute, among other examinations, also
what is usually called Preventive Health Examination with extensive
medical examination of various parameters. At the end of this
examination a medical certificate is issued by the specialist (In
Slovenia every person who starts new employment must go through this
examination).

The documents which are now presented to the public in regard to the
health of the actual President are not medical certificates as they
do not report the results of medical examination (such document is
strictly confidential) but are doctors' opinions based on their
examination of the health of the actual President. We don't know to
what kind of medical examinations the President was exposed to and to
what branch of medicine the doctors belong to but it seems from their
letters that their examinations were executed at the Headquarters of
the Society and that no special medical examinations were held, and
that that on the basis of these examinations the doctors opinions are
that the actual President is "fit to undertake any responsibility
involving strenuous physical and mental activity" and travel and
that "she is able to exercise her work as the president of the
Theosophical society".

Common sense tells me that in the case of 84 year old person who had
a stroke such statements hardly reflects the actual situation and
that doctors comments regarding the situation in the Society and the
time when they were issued, clearly indicates that these documents
were produced because of the President's needs in regard to the
election process.

In the absence of the practice that the candidates for the office of
the President should expose themselves to the overall medical
examination the election process became, quite naturally in my
opinion, influenced by the suspicions in regard to the actual
President's fitness from the part of, but far not only, the
supporters of contra candidate and by the reaction of the supporters
of the actual President with the production of documents in her
favor.

So, we are witnessing, in my view, an improper behavior from the part
of supporters of both candidates and don't have an impartial medical
opinion regarding the health of the actual President. Probably the
truth is, as always, somewhere in the middle.

The solution of this unpleasant situation was and is only in the
hands of the candidates, but in the first place in the hands of the
actual President, for both candidates are also members of the
Executive Committee and General Council and therefore it is hard to
believe that these bodies will be even able to meet before the
conclusion of the elections.

Anton