LESLIE BUCKLEY’S prospects of being re-elected to the Independent News & Media board have received another setback with institutional investor advisory group ISS recommending shareholders vote against his reappointment at the agm on Friday.

This follows a similar recommendation recently from Glass Lewis, another independent share proxy adviser.

In a note to clients on May 20th, ISS said Mr Buckley was not independent by virtue of being a nominee of IN&M’s biggest shareholder Denis O’Brien, with whom he has business connections.

It also said Mr O’Brien was over-represented on the board of IN&M and that the board was unbalanced with less than a majority of its members being independent.

In addition, ISS said Mr Buckley was a member of the nomination committee, which is not majority independent; and cited his “lack of directly relevant experience”.

Mr Buckley joined the IN&M board in 2009 along with Paul Connelly and Lucy Gaffney after a deal between Sir Anthony O’Reilly and Denis O’Brien.

ISS has also recommended that IN&M investors vote against the re-election of Brian Mulroney.

It said Mr Mulroney could not be classified as “independent” due to a previous business relationship with IN&M and that he has had a poor attendance record at board meetings over the past two years.

Glass also raised concerns about Mr Mulroney, a former Canadian prime minister, and advised shareholders to vote against his re-election because he was not regarded as independent.

Divisions have emerged at board level after Mr O’Brien’s three nominees informed chairman Brian Hillery that they would be voting against the resolution to accept the directors’ report and financial statements.

They cited their view that IN&M director Bengt Braun should not be classified as independent due to his role as a director of WAN-Ifra, a newspaper trade body that is headed by IN&M chief executive Gavin O’Reilly. But the O’Brien nominees will not vote against Mr Braun’s re-election as a director.

Speaking to The Irish Timesyesterday, Mr O'Reilly said: "I'm not sure why they took this decision but they did. It's highly bizarre for any director of a plc not to support the adoption of the accounts."

Last week, Mr O’Brien initiated legal action against Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Limited and journalist Sam Smyth in relation to an article published in May 2010 about the businessman and the Moriarty tribunal.

“He has signalled his intention to sue and has served papers . . . we’ll have to see how this plays out,” said Mr O’Reilly.