IOC presidential election LIVE: Seb Coe battles Juan Antonio Samaranch and Kirsty Coventry for power

FRONTRUNNER: Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr (Spain), 65, an IOC vice-president whose father was the president from 1980 to 2001.

Samaranch is a serious contender in this election and is widely respected among the membership. He has served on a raft of Olympic commissions and is a current IOC vice-president, and he is expected to have strong backing across Europe and the Americas. He is a smooth operator and multi-linguist, skilfully illustrated last month when the Spaniard flipped between English and French in his candidacy speech.

What stands as both a blessing and a curse is the legacy of his father, Juan Antonio Samaranch Snr, a godfather figure at the IOC who served as president between 1980 and 2001. His reign oversaw giant growth for the Olympic movement, but a damaging corruption scandal emerged on his watch and he embroiled himself in controversy with lavish spending.

While the Samaranch name still carries an undoubted gravitas in the Olympic world, one member questioned the optics of installing the seventh president’s son as the 10th president of the IOC. “It’s not a family company,” they joked.

FRONTRUNNER: Lord Coe (Britain), 68, president of World Athletics, the Olympics’ biggest sport.

Coe is a highly respected and influential player with a proven track record of winning major campaigns after masterminding London’s victory over Paris to host the 2012 Games. But in the corridors of the IOC’s headquarters he is a divisive figure. Coe has been openly critical on a range of issues, such as Russian sanctions, and his outspoken approach has often ruffled feathers, so much so that he is actively loathed by some senior IOC figures. Incumbent president Thomas Bach would rather Coe not win the race.

A disputed incident was Coe’s announcement last year that gold medalists in track and field events at the Paris 2024 Olympics would receive a $50,000 prize. The move caught the IOC off guard and left some figures furious that Coe was “playing solo”, even if he was entitled to do so. It is said that Coe has struck a notably open and receptive tone in discussions with members over recent weeks, as he bids to make up any lost ground. Coe has plenty of backers but he may need to win over some detractors if he is to claim the presidency.

The 109 members will electronically cast a vote for their preferred candidate. All members must be physically present and no proxy voting is allowed.

The winning candidate must secure more than 50 per cent of the votes for an overall majority. If a majority isn’t achieved in the first round of voting, then the candidate with the least number votes is eliminated, and six candidates go through to the sixth round where votes are recast. The process goes on until one candidate wins more than 50 per cent of the total votes in a given round.

The only members who cannot vote are compatriots of candidates in the process. So, for example, the other three French members of the IOC cannot until David Lappartient is eliminated for the process. However, the candidates themselves can, and do, vote for themselves. Honorary members cannot vote.

The winning candidate will serve an eight-year term, with a possible renewal of four years.

The 109 voters in the exclusive invited club of IOC members include royal family members, former lawmakers and diplomats, billionaires and business leaders, sports officials and Olympic athletes. There is even an Oscar-winning actress, Michelle Yeoh.

They will vote without hearing further presentations from the candidates in an election that should swing on a discreet network of friendships and alliances largely forged out of sight.

The election to decide the next president of the IOC takes place this afternoon at the luxury Costa Navarino hotel resort in Greece.

Voting is set to begin at around 2pm GMT, with an outcome likely to be delivered at some time before 3pm, depending on how many rounds of voting are required.

The strongest candidates in a hard-to-call contest seem to be IOC vice president Juan Antonio Samaranch and a pair of two-time Olympic gold medalists, Sebastian Coe and Kirsty Coventry.

Also in the race are Prince Feisal al Hussein of Jordan and three presidents of sports governing bodies: Johan Eliasch of skiing, cycling’s David Lappartient and Morinari Watanabe of gymnastics.

A new president of the IOC will be elected Thursday, just the 10th leader in its 131-year history after one of the most open Olympic elections in decades.

The winner will get an eight-year mandate with key issues including steering the Olympics on a smooth path in politics and sports toward the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles and picking a host for the 2036 edition. That could go to India or the Middle East for the first time.

Voting by about 100 eligible International Olympic Committee members is scheduled to start at 4 pm (2pm GMT). The result should be known within 30 minutes.

Seven IOC members are on the ballot chasing an absolute majority of votes for victory at a resort hotel near the site of Ancient Olympia.

Hello and welcome along to live coverage of the election for the next president of the International Olympic Committee. Who will succeed Thomas Bach as the most powerful figure in sport? We will find out soon enough.