FIFA presidential election could be postponed

The FIFA presidential race which is due to take place in Switzerland on Friday 26th February could now be postponed.

This follows reports that one of the candidates, Prince Ali bin al Hussein, has lodged a complaint at the manner in which the actual voting is due to take place.

The Jordanian, who is the third son of King Hussein, has called for transparent voting booths, a request which was denied on February 15th by the federation’s electoral body. In response to this lawyers representing the candidate told Reuters that “As a consequence, we (sic) are now seeking provisional measures before CAS to suspend the coming election on Friday 26th of February.”

The CAS is the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and responded with this statement: “HRH Prince Ali Al Hussein seeks an order that FIFA be directed to use transparent voting booths, as well as independent scrutineers, in order to safeguard the integrity of the voting process and to ensure that the vote is conducted in secret.”

William Hill has majorly cut the odds in response to this story hitting the news with 1/7 that the elections will fail to take place on Friday. At the time of writing the bookmaker is offering odds of 4/1 that they will take place as planned.

William Hill Press Officer Joe Crilly said of the news: “Prince Ali was close to winning power last time out, however, at 8/1 he is now an outsider and it looks as though he is doing everything he can to prevent the two frontrunners going head to head.”

The court has stated that it will make a decision no later than Thursday morning, a day prior to the election as it stands.