Chung claims ‘fraud’ in FIFA presidential poll

South Korean accuses Asian Football Confederation of backing rival Platini.

SEOUL: South Korean FIFA presidential candidate Chung Mong-Joon on Thursday accused the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) of “election fraud” in backing rival candidate Michel Platini.

Chung said the AFC, whose president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa has publicly supported Platini, had sent “unsolicited” letters to almost every AFC member association except for South Korea and Jordan, to win their support for Platini.

Jordan’s Prince Ali bin Hussein is also in the race to succeed Sepp Blatter as the head of football’s world governing body.

“It is an obvious case of election fraud infringing on the basic rights of other presidential candidates,” said Chung.

He urged FIFA’s Ad-hoc Electoral Committee to launch an immediate probe into those involved in the case, including Sheikh Salman and Platini, describing the latter as an “arrogant” man.

Platini is considered the front runner in the race for the FIFA presidency and has already secured public support from key national federations and regional confederations.

But Chung has said the Frenchman should not be a candidate because he was so close to FIFA’s past system and a former close ally of outgoing leader Blatter, who has said he will stand down when the election is held on February 26.

Chung, a member of the family that owns the Hyundai conglomerate, claimed that Sheikh Salman and Platini were taking advantage of their status as AFC and UEFA presidents respectively by seeking to influence the election process. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th,  2015.

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