Court Suspends Elections for President of the Korea Football Association, Application for Chairman Huh Jung-moo, Citing Provisional Disposition...gross procedural violations
Jan 07, 2025
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The KFA was scheduled to elect the next president at the Korea Football Center in Sinmun-ro, Seoul on the 8th. However, Heo Jung-moo, former chairman of Hana Citizen in Daejeon, filed an injunction against the KFA on the 30th of last month asking for a ban on the election, saying that the election for the chairman of the association is being conducted unfairly.
The Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Agreement Department 50 (Chief Judge Kim Sang-hoon) held a hearing date for the injunction on the 6th, and Chairman Huh and the KFA engaged in a court battle. Chairman Huh's side said "KFA unfairly proceeded with the schedule for the association's presidential election. There is also no way to confirm the composition of the Election CommissionThe executive of Chung Mong-gyu, president of the association, who is running for the third and fourth terms, is in charge of the election, and it is questionable whether it can be regarded as a normal election by other candidates unless the election process is publicly revealed. Chairman Huh also raised the issue of the reduction in the number of electors from 194 to 173.
The KFA has implemented all relevant announcements, and there are no missing procedures at all. The election management committee countered that independence is guaranteed, and if the list of members is disclosed, there may be disputes over fairness. In addition, the association is conducting elections in a stern manner. It is distortion to proceed for a specific person." Regarding the electoral college issue, he explained that 21 people were excluded due to consent to provide personal information.
Chairman Huh's insistence on conducting online voting is also completely groundless. No sports organization has ever voted online."
In the 55th KFA presidential election, Chung Mong-kyu, the current chairman, is running for the fourth term, while a visiting professor of sports record analysis at the Graduate School of Records and Information Science in the Shinmun Myungji University and Chairman Huh jumped into the race.
A day before the election, the brakes have been put on. The court ruled in favor of Chairman Huh. The court found that the ongoing KFA presidential election has "significant procedural violations that are to be acknowledged to have significantly violated the fairness of the election and thereby affected the election process".
It also pointed out that the majority of the electors were formed through a lottery process where transparency and fairness were not confirmed. The court added that it was not possible to confirm whether the committee was organized in accordance with the articles of association and election management regulations because it did not disclose who was appointed as a member of the election management committee.
And if the election is held, there is a high possibility that a subsequent dispute will be triggered over its effectiveness. Considering these points comprehensively, the court judged that the need for preservation to accept the application for provisional injunction was also clarified.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
