Sports Authority receives report on 'tainted' Thai FA election
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Three members of the Electoral Committee that refused to ratify the Football Association of Thailand's presidential election result last Thursday have insisted they had the right to rule on a poll that was tainted by allegations of wrongdoing.
Chairman Pol Maj-General Pisut Pumpichet yesterday led the trio at the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT), where it submitted its report on the poll that saw Worawi Makudi clinch a 42-28 victory over his challenger Virach Chanpanich to retain the post for a fourth consecutive term.
The report detailed three major reasons behind the majority decision of the five-member Electoral Committee not to approve the election result. The main controversy centred on the case of six member clubs whose claim that their own representatives were replaced by outside voters was waved away by an appeal panel.
“First of all, we found that the appeal panel’s judgement was against the rules. Consequently, as the body who organised the vote, we had the right not to approve the panel’s ruling. Second, we got complaints from voting members that outside people took their places in the poll.
“And, finally, members of the association’s administrative board took part in the voting, which breached electoral codes,” said EC member Chanint Kaenhiran.
Chanint insisted that the electoral committee had the right to rule on the outcome, contradicting Worawi’s claim of the day before that it had no such authority.
“According to the rules, the FA’s electoral committee’s final duty is to announce the result of the vote. The outcome, though, must be signed by the EC before it is forwarded to relevant agencies, which in this case was the SAT,” said Chanint.
“So, when we found there was a lack of transparency in the election, the EC majority had the right not approve it. I told Fifa that I would not approve it if there was anything against the rules, and they did not have any problem with that.”
Chanint also called on Worawi to show evidence that the members of the FA administrative board had indeed quit their posts before they took part in the poll.
“Worawi claimed the other day that he and other administrative board members resigned from their posts before the poll. I wonder whether the resignations actually occurred, because this [their resignations] was not a small issue that could be kept quiet.”
