By Andrew Warshaw
October 22- Embattled Fifa executive committee member Worawi Makudi insists he retained the presidency of Thai football perfectly legally despite last week’s election success suddenly being plunged into fresh chaos.
A five-member commission appointed to oversee the Thailand FA (FAT) election has refused to approve Makudi’s victory over former national team manager Virach Charnpanich.
Following months of feuding linking the election to controversial voting reforms sanctioned by Fifa, Makudi polled 42 votes to Virach’s 28 to win a fourth straight term.
But many clubs were disqualified from voting under the new reforms and three members of the commission were not convinced with the eligibility of all the voters and felt that the election was not clean, according to local media reports.
“As someone who has conducted elections, both nationally and locally, for four years, I found it difficult to approve the result,” Chanin Kaenhirun, a member of the commission, was quoted as saying by Thailand’s The Nation newspaper. “We had a case in which people were taking the place of the clubs’ representatives.”
Straight after the ballot Makudi described the election ‘transparent’ while Virach, who also lost two years ago, complained of foul play claiming many of those who backed Makudi had nothing to do with the clubs they represented.
As the Sports Authority of Thailand, the ultimate arbiters, prepared to take the final decision on an issue that could affect not only Thai football but also Thailand’s membership of Fifa, Makudi insisted the election was clean and fair and that the commission’s mandate ended once the ballot took place. “The election was conducted according to Fifa’s new charter,” he said.”The commission was not authorised to approve the result.”
