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Prince Ali seeks suspension of FIFA vote

February 23, 2016

Prince Ali's lawyers have asked the Swiss-based sports court to suspend the vote for a new FIFA president. He is one of five candidates aiming to succeed Sepp Blatter as the head of world football's governing body.

https://p.dw.com/p/1I0IJ
FIFA Kandidat Prinz Ali bin al Hussein
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Bradley

Lawyers for Jordanian Prince Ali bin Al Hussein have confirmed that they have filed an official request at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to suspend Friday's FIFA presidential election.

They said that the prince was unhappy with the arrangements for the election, after after FIFA turned down his request that transparent booths be used for the voting.

"FIFA opposed our request for an accelerated procedure so that these questions could be decided before February 26," Prince Ali's lawyers explained. "It was therefore natural that Prince Ali goes to the CAS." They also argued that by turning down the request, FIFA had denied the prince "any right to a fair and transparent voting process."

Meanwhile, Jerome Champagne, a former FIFA executive for 11 years, has complained to world football's governing body about the number of observers accredited for Friday's election. The Frenchman has said he believes the execessive number of representatives from UEFA (the European governing body) and the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) to be present at the Congress, could be used to "swamp" voters.

Champagne, Prince Ali, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain, UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino and Tokyo Sexwale are the candidates for this week's election.

rd/pfd (AFP, Reuters, dpa)

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