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Swiss racing driver Laura Villars has launched a legal action against motorsport's governing body to challenge its election process.
Villars had expressed an intention to stand in December's presidential election against incumbent Mohammed Ben Sulayem. But a quirk of the FIA election rules means no other candidate is able to run.
The legal summons requests a Paris court "to order the suspension of the FIA presidential election, which is due to be held on 12 December, until a ruling is made" over the dispute.
A court hearing is set for 10 November.
Villars told BBC Sport: "This procedure aims to ensure that the FIA's upcoming presidential election, currently set for 12 December 2025, complies with the organisation's own statutes and with fundamental democratic principles.
"The legal action is grounded on Article 1.3 of the FIA statutes, which commits the FIA to 'respect the highest standards of governance, transparency and democracy', and on the fact that the FIA is a French-law association headquartered in Paris, thus subject to French jurisdiction.
"This step is neither hostile nor political - it is a responsible and constructive initiative to safeguard transparency, ethics and pluralism within global motorsport governance.
"As I have stated publicly, I am not acting against the FIA. I am acting to protect it. Democracy is not a threat to the FIA; it is its strength."
The FIA has been contacted for comment.
Villars said the court had invited both parties to a mediation meeting and that she would attend it "in a spirit of openness and good faith".
"I will go to this mediation hearing with the same attitude I have maintained from the beginning - calm, openness, and determination," she said.
"I hope it will finally lead to a sincere dialogue in the service of a FIA that is more modern, fair, and connected to its members.
"I have twice tried to open a constructive dialogue with the FIA on essential matters such as internal democracy and the transparency of electoral rules. The responses received were not up to the challenge."
Villars' barrister, Robin Binsard, said: "We have obtained authorisation for an hour-to-hour emergency summons, which demonstrates that the court is taking seriously the serious democratic failings within the FIA, as well as several violations of its statutes and regulations that we have denounced."
If Villars wins her case, the presidential process would likely be stopped until the conclusion of an investigation into what needs to change at the FIA in terms of governance processes.
If that took longer than the time left before the election, Ben Sulayem would stay in power but with a caretaker mandate that would prevent him making any significant decisions or changes.
The courts could put in place an external caretaker to ensure that is what happened.
Villars' argument rests on the process by which FIA election rules have blocked rival candidates to Ben Sulayem.
Presidential candidates must submit a list of their prospective vice-presidents for sport, which must be selected from each of the FIA's six global regions and from a list of candidates eligible to sit on the FIA world motorsport council.
But this year's world council list contains only one candidate from South America - Brazilian Fabiana Ecclestone, wife of former F1 boss Bernie, and she is a member of Ben Sulayem's team.
That prevents any other candidate from naming a potential vice-president for sport from South America, which means no-one else can enter the election.
Fellow candidate Tim Mayer accused the FIA of "lacking transparency" and "the illusion of democracy" when he said this month he was abandoning his campaign for the presidency.
In response, an FIA spokesperson said: "The FIA presidential election is a structured and democratic process, to ensure fairness and integrity at every stage."
The election process has been challenged twice before.
Briton David Ward succeeded in getting an injunction when he stood against Jean Todt in 2013, and former rally driver Ari Vatanen entered mediation when he challenged Todt in 2009 following Max Mosley's decision not to run again.
Both men lost out in the election.
