The election is due to be held on May 19 during the IIHF Annual Congress in Moscow, where the Ice Hockey World Championships are scheduled to take place from May 6 to 22.

Former Kontinental Hockey League chief Alexander Medvedev ruled himself out of the running for the Presidency in January after admitting there was "no sense" in entering the race due to the close relationship between Fasel and Russia.

The country's Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko and Russian Ice Hockey Federation President Vladislav Tretyak have both backed the Swiss, who has led the IIHF since 1994.

Medvedev had originally told Russian news agency TASS he was considering launching a campaign against Fasel and had investigated the possibility of standing as a special member of the IIHF, rather than from Russian hockey’s governing body.

Mutko, however, has made it clear they are firmly behind Fasel, who is known to have a close personal relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A total of 22 candidates have been proposed for election to the Council from 2016 to 2020.

As well as Fasel, the Congress will also elect three vice-presidents - one each representing the regions of Asia/Oceania, Europe/Africa and Americas.

Hong Kong’s Thomas Wu, Finland’s Kalervo Kummola and Canada’s Bob Nicholson are all vying to continue as representatives of the respective regions with China’s Chunlu Wang completing the four nomination to challenge Wu.

Nine other Council members will be elected from a pool of 17 nominees, comprising three women and 14 men.

Hungary’s Zsuzsanna Kolbenheyer, a current Council member, is among the trio of female nominees along with Poland’s Marta Zawadzka and Luxembourg’s Monique Scheier-Schneider.

France’s Luc Tardif, Slovakia’s Igor Nemecek, Denmark’s Henrik Bach Nielsen, Spain’s Frank Gonzalez and Russia’s Vladislav Tretiak are the five existing male Council members bidding for re-election.

Challenging them are Germany’s Franz Reindl, Czech Republic’s Petr Briza, Slovenia’s Matjaz Rakovec, the United States’ Ron DeGregorio, Iceland’s Vidar Gardarsson, The Netherlands’ Robert van Rijswijk, Sweden’s Peter Forsberg, Belarus’ Sergej Goncharov and Mexico’s Joaquin de la Garma.

The Council will consist of 13 voting members, of which at least two must be female members, and the general secretary as a non-voting member.

The Congress will also elect two internal auditors for four-year terms.

Current auditor Fabio Oetterli of Switzerland is in the running along with Sweden’s Christer Englund, a current Council member, and Italy’s Andrea Gios. 

Each full member of the IIHF in good standing was invited to propose a candidate.