Fifa presidential election: Prince Ali of Jordan wants vote suspended after transparent booths rejected
The 40-year-old has taken his complaints to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the highest tribunal level
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Your support makes all the difference.Fifa presidential hopeful Prince Ali Al Hussein of Jordan has called for Friday’s election to be suspended after his proposals for transparent voting booths were rejected.
The 40-year-old has taken his complaints to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the highest tribunal level, following reports that delegates allegedly documented how they voted during June’s presidential election.
Mobile phones and cameras have since been banned from proceedings but Prince Ali's calls for see-through booths to be incorporated have thus far been ignored by the world football governing body. The Jordanian believes the booths would prevent voters from coming under pressure to produce evidence of their vote to interested parties.
Prince Ali is joined by Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa, Gianni Infantino, Jerome Champagne and Tokyo Sexwale on a five-man candidate-list to be elected president. The vote takes place after Sepp Blatter was handed an eight-year ban for his role in a “disloyal payment” of £1.3m to Uefa counterpart Michel Platini.
The Frenchman suffered the same fate but both are currently awaiting the verdicts of their respective appeals. Friday’s ballot is likely to go beyond the first round, when a two thirds majority is required to secure victory.
Supporters around the world have grown disillusioned with Fifa after a succession of scandals led to the Federal Bureau of Investigation looking into prominent members of Blatter’s inner Zurich circle. In a recent Transparency International poll carried out by Football Addicts, it was revealed that seven in 10 football supporters across the globe have lost confidence in Fifa’s ability to repair their tarnished reputation.
Outgoing president Blatter, meanwhile, has defended the voting process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, set to be staged in Russia and Qatar, insisting “you cannot buy” the rights to host the competition.
The 79-year-old, in an interview with the Times, added: “I am sure that there is justice in this world, and that I have committed nothing which goes to criminal law.
“I have killed nobody, I have not robbed a bank, I have not taken any money from anywhere and I was even treating well all my ex-girlfriends. It’s true. They defend me. One I was married to only for a few months and she is really defending me.”
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