Prince Ali says FIFA election should go ahead as scheduled
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Berlin (dpa) - FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein said Wednesday that the emergency election to replace Joseph Blatter must not be delayed.
"With FIFA's crisis deepening, the organisation needs to move beyond interim leadership and elect an accountable president," he said in a statement.
"Delaying the scheduled election would only postpone needed change and create further instability.
It would tell the world that lessons haven't been learned, that the same backroom deals that have discredited FIFA in the first place continue.
"The election is scheduled for an extraordinary congress on February 26 but the FIFA executive committee meets next week and could decide to delay the poll.
"The EXCO should not interfere with an ongoing process that was put in place by the ad hoc electoral committee. The election date of February 26 was set three months ago with a clear procedure that meets all of FIFA's statutory requirements," Prince Ali said.
"Candidates have had plenty of time to declare and still do. The rules should not be changed after the game has started."
Cameroonian Issa Hayatou is acting FIFA president as incumbent Blatter was recently suspended for 90 days by the ethics ethics committee.
UEFA president Michel Platini was also banned for 90 days and the South Korean former FIFA vice-president Chung Mong Joon was suspended for six years. Both had hoped to run for FIFA president at the extraordinary congress.
