Fifa Election: Prince Ali Wants Friday’s Vote Suspended

Source: thewillnigeria.com

Lawyers for Fifa presidential candidate Prince Ali bin al-Hussein say they have made an official request for Friday’s election to be suspended.

Prince Ali, 40, is unhappy with voting arrangements so he has taken his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The Jordanian’s plea for transparent voting booths was rejected by world football’s election commission.

Prince Ali is one of five contenders looking to succeed Swiss Sepp Blatter, who is stepping down after 18 years.

He is up against South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale, Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, former Fifa deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne and Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino. Why transparent booths?

Ali wants to ensure delegates do not photograph their ballot papers when they choose the next president.

This, he believes, would prevent them from coming under pressure to produce evidence of their vote to interested parties – and ensure the election is transparent, too.

However, Fifa rejected his proposal and will instead ask voters to leave their mobile phones outside while choosing between the five candidates. What go to Cas?

Prince Ali’s lawyers want “a fair electoral process” and think Fifa’s request for voters to leave their phones behind when they vote is “not sufficient”.

They claim Fifa’s “behaviour” denies “any right to a fair and transparent voting process”.

As a result, they are now seeking provisional measures before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) to suspend Friday’s election.

BBC SPORTS