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 One candidate had sought to have the vote on a new president delayed
but sport's highest tribunal threw out his request, clearing the way
for FIFA to hold its planned Extraordinary Congress in Zurich.
FIFA urged members to approve its reforms at the congress, including
term limits for top officials and disclosure of their earnings, to
rebuild trust after several dozen officials were indicted in the
United States and a criminal investigation was begun in Switzerland.
Swiss Blatter, whose 18-year tenure officially ends this week, had
hoped to attend the Congress but lost an appeal against his
eight-year ban for ethics violations, meaning he must stay away.
The federation's appeal committee nevertheless reduced the
suspension to six years in acknowledgement of Blatter's "services
rendered to FIFA."
The committee also shaved two years off its suspension for European
soccer boss Michel Platini, who had been favorite to replace Blatter
until an investigation began into a $2.03 million payment FIFA made
to him in 2011 for work done a decade earlier.
"Mr Platini's and Mr Blatter's activities and the services they had
rendered to FIFA, UEFA and football in general over the years should
deserve appropriate recognition as a mitigating factor," the
committee said.
Platini was not impressed.
"The decision is insulting, shameful and is a violation of rights,"
he said in a statement.
"The charges against me are baseless, built from the ground up and
surreal in view of the facts and the explanations I gave during the
hearing."
Five candidates are standing to replace Blatter to try to lead FIFA
out of its crisis.
In a sign of the level of distrust over the election, candidate
Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan had asked the Court of
Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to delay the vote on concerns over the
voting booths.
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Worried that delegates might use their mobile phones to photograph
their ballot sheets in a vote which is supposed to be secret, Ali
had demanded transparent booths.
His campaign team even had some of the booths flown in and displayed
them to the media at a warehouse on the outskirts of Zurich.
Nevertheless, CAS rejected his request.
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"The only positive aspect of today’s ruling is it that the election
will now go forward as planned, and the media will be closely
watching for any evidence that anyone is photographing their
ballot," Ali said in a statement.
As Ali's case was thrown out, another candidate, Jerome Champagne,
said he would appeal to CAS over the amount of observers who would
be allowed into the congress hall on Friday.
But he did not ask for a postponement of the election itself.
"The election cannot be delayed, it's just to point the finger at a
problem," the Frenchman told reporters.
Both Ali and Champagne have expressed concern over the fact that
FIFA's continental confederations do not vote but often issue
declarations of support for particular candidates, potentially
skewing the election results.
FIFA's 209 member national associations (FAs) each hold one vote and
secret voting means they can ignore directives without being found
out. Ali has said FAs who do not toe the line can find they suffer
reprisals from their continental confederations.
Gianni Infantino, general secretary of European governing body UEFA,
and Asian soccer boss Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa are seen
as the favorites to replace Blatter.
South African businessman and politician Tokyo Sexwale is the other
candidate.
Friday's congress will also vote on a package of reforms seen as
crucial for cleaning up FIFA's image, even as investigations
continue in the United States and Switzerland.
FIFA's executive committee on Wednesday called on the FAs to vote in
favor of the reforms, which acting president Issa Hayatou described
as "critical" to the federation's future.
“The eyes of the world are on us this week after one of the most
challenging times in our history," Hayatou told the committee,
according to a FIFA statement.
"The approval of the reforms will send a strong message that we have
listened and that we are taking the action necessary to regain trust
and improve our performance.”
(Writing by Brian Homewood; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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