easyJet shareholders vote to keep Sir Michael Rake as director and chairman

easyJet stated (13-Aug-2012) the resolution to remove Sir Michael Rake as director and chairman of easyJet plc was defeated at an EGM on 13-Aug-2012 by a majority of its shareholders. 154.5 million shareholders voted for the resolution to remove Sir Michael for the position, 176.4 million voted against and 3.4 million votes were withheld. Accordingly, 46.7% votes case voted for the removal, with 53.5% voting against. easyJet deputy chairman and senior independent director Charles Gurassa said, "The Board continues to seek a constructive relationship with all its shareholders and urges Sir Stelios and easyGroup to engage with easyJet. I and other members of the Board are available to meet with them at any time". Sir Stelios, who along with other family members controls 37.5% of the carrier, presented the resolution to remove Sir Michael, also deputy chairman of Barclays, from the position, and comes amid continued disagreement between the airline's management and Sir Stelios over aspects of the carrier's future direction. Following the vote, Sir Stelios stated, "My objective is to hold these guys to account and not to replace them with myself or my own candidate. I am not even sure I trust their vote counting given their attitude towards binning proxies in our favour but anyway…we are where we are". [more - original PR - easyJet] [more - original PR - easy.com]