Prince Ali says he is in it to win it and will stay to the end

As scores of delegates and media streamed into Zurich for arguably the most important vote in FIFA history, Prince Ali held an impromptu briefing at the exclusive Baur au Lac hotel in downtown Zurich – where all those high-profile officials were arrested in May and which kicked off the biggest corruption scandal in FIFA history – to stress the point that he is making a stand for transparency and was not simply indulging in a face-saving exercise in case he loses on Friday.

“I’m in the election until the end and will go through with it,” Prince Ali told reporters. “But I want the process to be correct.”

Prince Ali has somehow managed to transport six transparent voting booths into Zurich from his native Jordan and can’t understand why FIFA’s election scrutineers are not prepared to use them. Videos of last May’s election when Prince Ali lost to Sepp Blatter have emerged on the internet over the last 24 hours purporting to show voters taking photos of their submitted ballot papers.

“I have heard from national associations from at least three confederations that pressure is being put to show who they voted for,” said Prince Ali. ” It’s a very legitimate concern. You need to give people the right and the freedom to vote how they want when it’s a secret ballot. It’s not to late to get this done.”

“It’s very obvious there has been a practise in the past…including the last FIFA election. That’s why this issue has been brought up.”

As his fraught relationship with electoral committee chairman Domenico Scala intensified , Prince Ali revealed that he had been officially reprimanded by Scala for criticising rival Asian presidential candidate Sheikh Salman, at a recent press conference in Geneva, for failing to protect players in his native Bahrain during the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in 2011.

“I was cautioned that I should not be commenting when I in fact answered some very legitimate questions,” he charged. “That’s the old FIFA. I am behaving in the way I would as FIFA president.”

One possibility in terms of Prince Ali’s appeal to CAS is that sport’s highest court throws out his request for transparent booths but urges FIFA to police its ban on mobile phones at the ballot. However, some reports suggest CAS could theoretically mandate Scala’s committee to accede to Prince Ali’s demand – and call off the election if it is refused pending further discussions.

“I have followed through with every single rule and regulation that the electoral committee put forth,” said Prince Ali. “I am very proud of that.”

And if the election ends up being viewed as a sham? “I think it would be a catastrophe.”

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