Seoul: The national football body announced Thursday that its request to have the national watchdog oversee its presidential election has been denied. The Korea Football Association (KFA) disclosed that it received the notification from the regional office of the National Election Commission (NEC) located in the Jongno district of Seoul, where the KFA's headquarters are situated.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the Jongno election commission cited its prior commitments, as it is responsible for managing the nationwide elections for regional directors of the MG Community Credit Cooperatives on March 5. The election body further informed the KFA that, under existing laws concerning the management of elections for external organizations, it would "not be feasible" for the regional NEC office to oversee the entire KFA election process at this time.
The KFA had originally scheduled the election for January 8 but postponed it when the Seoul Central District Court granted an injunction filed by Huh Jung-moo, one of the three candidates, seeking to halt the election. Huh, a former head coach of the men's national team, argued that the KFA's election management committee had members who were biased in favor of his rival candidate, Chung Mong-gyu, who is seeking a fourth term.
Shin Moon-sun, a former player and television analyst, is also competing in the election. When the KFA announced last Thursday that the election was rescheduled for January 23, both Huh and Shin opposed the new date, stating they had not agreed to it. Subsequently, all eight members of the KFA's election committee resigned last Friday, leading to an indefinite postponement of the election.
All three candidates had concurred that the NEC should oversee the election process to ensure fairness and transparency. Despite this, the KFA maintained that it would still require its own election committee to manage internal affairs. The KFA now plans to assemble a new election committee by the end of the month, with the aim of resuming election preparations in early February.