Football body to recruit ex-election officials to run president vote

The South Korean football governing body announced Tuesday it will recruit former national election officials to run its president vote.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) said it will put “multiple” former officials of the National Election Commission (NEC) on its election management committee and will receive recommendations from the NEC and other relevant organizations.

The KFA said this was designed to ensure expertise in election management and operations. Chung Mong-gyu is pursuing his fourth term and is up against Huh Jung-moo, former South Korean men’s national team head coach, and Shin Moon-sun, former player and television analyst.

The election had been scheduled for Jan. 8 but was postponed the previous day, when the Seoul Central District Court granted an injunction filed by Huh to stop the proceedings over lack of transparency and impartiality.

The KFA rescheduled the vote to Jan. 23, but both Huh and Shin claimed they had never agreed to the date, forcing the KFA to reconsider.

The KFA is trying to put together a new election committee, after all eight members of the first iteration of the team resigned on Jan. 10 while being accused by both Huh and Shin of harboring pro-Chung bias. Their resignations forced the KFA to postpone the election indefinitely.

According to the KFA, the election committee can have anywhere from seven to 11 members. At least two-thirds of them must not have any affiliation with football or the KFA.

The KFA said Tuesday it will have 11 members for the new committee, with increased participation from the NEC and media.

In order to guarantee members’ independence, the KFA said it is accepting recommendations from outside organizations and it will not appoint members on its own.

Last week, the KFA said the NEC had rejected its request to take over the election management duties, citing prior commitments.