Lawyers acting for FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali bin al-Hussein "have moved to have Friday’s election postponed" by the Court of Arbitration for Sport after FIFA blocked his request for "transparent voting booths," according to Owen Gibson of the London GUARDIAN. The Jordanian former FIFA exec committee member had "voiced concerns that his rivals were exerting undue pressure on the 209 voters to record proof that they had cast their vote a certain way." FIFA responded by banning mobile phones from the voting booth "but would not agree to a request from the Ali camp to install transparent voting booths that they offered to provide." Lawyers for Ali said in a statement that FIFA’s measures were "not sufficient" and sources said they remained concerned that the voting process "would not be properly policed and that there would be no sanctions for flouting the rules" (GUARDIAN, 2/23). The AP's Graham Dunbar reported CAS said it received a request from Prince Ali, asking the court to direct FIFA to use transparent voting booths and independent scrutineers "in order to safeguard the integrity of the voting process and to ensure the vote is conducted in secret." CAS said that FIFA has been asked to "submit written answers to the prince's request." CAS said it would issue a ruling "no later than Thursday morning, a day ahead of the scheduled election" (AP, 2/23).
ALL EYES ON ELECTION: REUTERS' Ossian Shine reported with the governance of the "world's most popular sport at stake, and the conduct of ballots for the hosts of the next two World Cups already being called into question in criminal investigations," all eyes will be on how the election is carried out as well as the result. Prince Ali's lawyers said that requesting delegates to surrender their phones was "not sufficient." FIFA and "Ali himself were not immediately available for comment" (REUTERS, 2/23). The London TELEGRAPH reported FIFA has been invited to "explain its decision" to dismiss Prince Ali's request to use transparent voting booths in Friday's presidential election by CAS (TELEGRAPH, 2/23).
LACK OF TRUST: Gibson reported in a separate piece half of football fans worldwide do not believe FIFA "can ever restore its tattered reputation, according to a poll released before this week’s presidential election." Mistrust was highest in Chile, Argentina, Ireland, South Korea and Spain, while fans in Thailand, Japan, Russia, South Africa and Qatar "were most likely to say they still had confidence" in FIFA. Asked to choose from the list of five candidates who will contest the election, six in 10 of those polled chose "none of the above" (GUARDIAN, 2/22).
SALMAN RAISES STAKES: The AP's Rob Harris reported Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa raised the stakes in the FIFA presidential election Tuesday "by contending that rival Gianni Infantino's plan to significantly increase cash payouts to federations" would bankrupt FIFA as it faces a $560M deficit. Sheikh Salman said, "The expected deficit for the next four years is 560 (million dollars) -- this is going to be withdrawn from the reserves. If you are a chair of a company that is making losses and you say you are going to distribute dividends to your shareholders, it doesn't make sense" (AP, 2/23).
UNDER REVIEW: REUTERS' Josh Franklin reported a spokesperson for the Swiss attorney general said that authorities "are reviewing more than 150 reports of suspicious financial activity linked to FIFA's decision to award Russia and Qatar the 2018 and 2022 World Cups." That is "up from 133 cases" the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) had reported in December (REUTERS, 2/23).
