Iraq moved closer toward suspension from soccer world body FIFA on Saturday after failing to elect a new president.
A political power struggle has paralyzed Iraq’s soccer federation, highlighting sectarian divisions in the country seven years after the US-led invasion and three years after a multi-ethnic Iraqi squad triumphed in the Asia Cup.
The government of Shi’ite Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has been trying to remove top officials from sport bodies suspected of ties to the Sunni-led former regime of Saddam Hussein.
Iraqi Football Association president Hussain Saeed, who once was a senior official of the Olympic Committee controlled before 2003 by Saddam’s feared son Uday, is facing a challenge from Falah Hassan, who is backed by the Shi’ite-led government. Both are ex-stars of the Iraqi national team.
The federation was due to elect a new president on Saturday but the vote was postponed until yesterday after only a minority of the 63 delegates showed up in Arbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, where FIFA had insisted the vote take place on security grounds.
A majority had gathered in Baghdad where the government wanted to hold the election to showcase improved security after the height of the sectarian warfare in 2006-2007.
Saeed accused the government of intervening in the federation’s affairs, urging members to attend the meeting in Arbil which would go ahead no matter what.
“I request members of the assembly who did not attend the Arbil meeting, who have been subjected to pressure, to attend tomorrow to participate in the elections,” he said, warning that Iraq needed to avoid another international ban.
He also appealed Maliki to stop “intervening” by preventing some members of the federation from participating in the election assembly in Arbil.
FIFA requires governments to refrain from meddling in soccer federation affairs, and has already twice suspended Iraq, lifting the latest ban in March on condition the federation agreed on a road map to new elections.
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