Fifa to vote on Sepp Blatter presidency

Sepp Blatter

Sepp Blatter

The 209 members of Fifa are set to vote for their new president at their congress in Zurich, amid a huge corruption scandal.

Sepp Blatter is seeking a fifth term. His only challenger is Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan.

The vote comes two days after seven top officials were held in Zurich in a US fraud inquiry that indicted 14 people.

Mr Blatter has faced calls to quit but says he is not responsible for the scandal and is favourite to win.

Q&A: Fifa elections

‘Good victory’

Both Mr Blatter, 79, and Prince Ali, 39, will have 15 minutes to address the delegates.

Each of the 209 member associations can then vote.

In the first round, a candidate must get two-thirds of the votes to win outright, or 140 votes.

If that is not achieved there will be a second round requiring a simple majority, even though there are only two candidates.

Mr Blatter, in office for 17 years, remains the favourite, with strong support in Asia, the Americas and Africa.

The president of the Nigerian Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, told the BBC he was 100% convinced Mr Blatter would win.

Mr Pinnick said: “We’ve done our homework. For Africa they have 54 votes and maybe one might slip off and might go to another. But I can assure you in Africa we’ll get a minimum of 50 votes.

“And we know our friends from Asia, our friends from Latin America so I can assure you it’s going to be a good victory for him.”

BBC

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