By Andrew Warshaw
September 3 – In a dramatic early twist in the race to succeed Sepp Blatter, South Korean FIFA presidential candidate Chung Mong-joon has lambasted his own confederation by accusing them of breaking electoral and ethical rules and calling for an official inquiry.
The Asian Football Confederation’s president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa has made no secret of his backing for UEFA chief Michel Platini on February 26 next year but Chung has accused the body of “election fraud” by sending unsolicited letters to Asian members urging them to follow the party line.
All of FIFA’s 209 member associations have a free vote, in theory at least. But Chung, who is already well behind Platini in the betting, says efforts to influence Asian countries undermines the fairness of the poll in direct violation of FIFA statutes.
“Given that the confederations exercise tremendous influence over its member associations in organising football tournaments and through administrative oversight, it is clear that the fairness of the FIFA presidential election has been seriously compromised,” Chung charged.
Speaking back home at a news conference in Seoul, Chung, who has already criticised FIFA itself for undermining his campaign, revealed that template letters had been sent to almost every AFC association except for his own South Korea and Jordan asking members to sign a form pledging their support for Platini. Jordan’s Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, beaten by Blatter in May, is still undecided about whether to run again and could make his intentions known at an eagerly awaited appearance in Manchester in Monday.
“It is an obvious case of election fraud infringing on the basic rights of other presidential candidates,” Chung told reporters, urging FIFA’s Electoral Committee – overseen by Domenico Scala – to launch an immediate probe into those allegedly behind the move.
Chung, who has been very vocal in what some are construing as a desperate attempt to secure the moral high ground, has already declared that Platini should not be a candidate because he was part of the FIFA heirarcy under Blatter, who is standing down after what will be almost 18 years in the job.
So far Platini has been keeping his powder dry and has not yet spoken at length about his candidacy, having backed Prince Ali last time. But if Chung’s latest claims are correct, they would represent a serious case of dirty tricks in what is already becoming a bitter campaign.
As evidence, he produced copies of the said letter, to be filled in by national federations expressing backing for Platini under the title “Proposal and support of the candidature of Mr. MP (Michel Platini) for the office of FIFA President.”
It ended with a sentence that read: “Finally, just for good order, we wish to confirm that the (INSERT NAME ASSOCIATION) is supporting only Mr. MP and, accordingly, we did not sign any other declaration of support for another candidate for the office of the FIFA President.”
The letters were addressed to FIFA’s secretary general Jerome Valcke and Chung said he had received the information from various sources including “acquaintances”. He said the same letter had been circulated to African members but did not say by whom, insisting the Confederation of African Football had immediately intervened. The AFC has 46 voting members and CAF 54.
“After CAF became fully aware of this incident, it conducted an internal review, deemed [the] behaviour highly improper and took measures to rectify the situation,” said Chung.
Chung, the billionaire scion of the Hyundai business group, was a FIFA vice president for 17 years and was once considered a candidate to succeed Blatter before losing his VP seat in 2011, ironically to Prince Ali. He was instrumental in helping South Korea land the right to co-host the 2002 World Cup with Japan and has been a long-time critic of Blatter.
Chung said he had notified FIFA’s Electoral Committee and the Ethics Committee about the letters and had asked for an immediate investigation.
“According to FIFA Statutes, only the member associations possess the right to propose candidates for the office of FIFA President, and each member should make its decision independently and with no influence from third parties,” he said.
“The electoral committee’s guidelines emphasise that candidates holding official positions within FIFA should not abuse their position of power in the election process. If Salman and Platini are taking advantage of their status as the AFC and UEFA presidents and seeking to intervene in the election process, their actions are in breach of the basic principles of election and violate FIFA’s spirit of ‘fair play’.”
The full text of Chung’s remarks are printed below.
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Opening Remarks
Dr. MJ Chung
September 3, 2015
“I am holding this press conference because, recently, incidents that seriously undermine the fairness of the election for FIFA President has come to our attention.
Sheikh Salman, President of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), has publicly supported Michel Platini, President of UEFA. We have learned that AFC has sent unsolicited letters to almost every AFC member association. Most AFC member countries including China, Japan, Mongolia, India, and Singapore received this letter. South Korea and Jordan, however, did not.
The letter is a form letter to be filled in by the National Football Association supporting the candidacy of Mr. Michel Platini and addressed to FIFA’s Secretary General. It is entitled “Proposal and support of the candidature of Mr. MP [Michel Platini] for the office of FIFA President.” The purpose of the letter is clearly defined as “support of the candidature of Mr. MP for the office of FIFA President, to be elected at the next FIFA Extraordinary Congress 2016.” It further states that “…just for good order, we wish to confirm that [INSERT NAME ASSOCIATION] is supporting only MR. MP and, accordingly, we did not sign any other declaration of support for another candidate for the office of FIFA President.”
The Director and staff members of AFC’s Department of Member Associations and Development has made private phone calls to individual member associations, checking to see whether they sent in completed form letters to FIFA.
We have also confirmed that similar attempts were made at the Confederation of African Football (CAF). It is likely that similar incidents have occurred at other Confederations.
In Africa, a CAF senior official circulated the same form letters to its member associations. After CAF became fully aware of this incident, it conducted an internal review, deemed its behavior highly improper and took measures to rectify the situation.
Of the 209 members who can vote for FIFA President, 46 belong to AFC and 54 to CAF. Given that the Confederations exercise tremendous influence over its member associations in organizing football tournaments and through administrative oversight, it is clear that the fairness of the FIFA presidential election has been seriously compromised.
According to FIFA Statutes, only the member associations possess the right to propose candidates for the office of FIFA President, and each member should make its decision independently and with no influence from third parties. Aforementioned efforts seeking to influence each member associations’ right to propose candidate, therefore, directly violate Articles 24.1 and 17.1 of the FIFA Statutes.
Furthermore, the Ad-hoc Electoral Committee’s guidelines emphasize that candidates holding official positions within FIFA should not abuse their position of power in the election process. If AFC President Salman and UEFA President Platini are taking advantage of their status as the AFC and UEFA presidents and seeking to intervene in the election process, their actions are in breach of the basic principles of election and violate FIFA’s spirit of “fair play.”
Such acts also clearly violate Articles 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4 of Electoral Regulations for FIFA Presidency that demand FIFA presidential elections be carried out in a fair, transparent and reputable manner. It is an obvious case of election fraud infringing on the basic rights of other presidential candidates.
As such, on August 31, we sent official letters and relevant documents to Domenico Scala, Chairman of FIFA Ad-hoc Electoral Committee, and Cornel Borbely, Chairman of FIFA Ethics Committee, calling on them to immediately investigate the facts and the parties, including Sheikh Salman, the CAF Senior Official, Mr. Platini, as well as the related Confederations and the Members, surrounding the above-mentioned infringements of the FIFA regulations and promptly disclose all of the facts and findings related to the above in order to restore the integrity of the election process.
We also requested the Ad-hoc Electoral Committee to promptly institute remedies sufficient to address the prejudice and harm already sustained by the potential candidates. This includes the nullification of any “support” for the candidature of Mr. Platini received through the form letters sent by AFC, the Senior Official of CAF and/or any other Confederation.
Attached files are a copy of the form letter sent by AFC to its member associations, relevant FIFA Statutes and Electoral Regulations.
Thank you.”