Thai football commission rejects election vote

FIFA executive committee member Worawi Makudi insists he retained the presidency of Thai football perfectly legally despite last week’s success being rejected by a panel overseeing the election.

A five-member commission appointed to monitor the Thailand FA (FAT) election has refused to approve Makudi’s victory over former national team manager Virach Charnpanich.

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.

“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 that many of those who backed Makudi had nothing to do with the clubs they represented.

Makudi insisted the election was clean and fair.

“The election was conducted according to FIFA’s new charter,” he said.”The commission was not authorised to approve the result.”

The final verdict now resides with the Sports Authority of Thailand, and their decision could have ramifications not only for Thailand but also for the country’s role within FIFA. For, the one thing FIFA abhors above all others, is political intervention in the football arena.