The latest news/ The Secretary General of the Football Federation has made a surprising comment, claiming that only two candidates have been qualified and the preliminary election committee can decide on the candidates' qualifications until the day of the election.

This illegal statement of the general secretary of the federation is rooted in the baseless argument that the final list of candidates within the deadline of 21 days before the date of the general election assembly that was announced on August 18 is only a confirmation of the initial qualification. This interpretation of the regulations is completely contrary to Clause (e) of Article 5, Clause (c) of Article 7 and Article 14 of the Election Regulations and will have no result other than instability, lack of transparency and suspicion of third party interference in the independent election process. . Clauses (a) and (b) of Article 16 of the Election Regulations explicitly stipulate that 21 days before the general election assembly, the final list of candidates must be announced to the members of the assembly and must be posted on the website of the Federation.It is not known which law and articles of the constitution are cited by some gentlemen who, with their false statements, instill distrust in the election process, believe that the announced list of candidates is preliminary and temporary. If these legal deadlines are not valid, then the philosophy of emphasizing the provisions of the constitution and election regulations on these deadlines has an ornamental and decorative aspect?!

The honorable Secretary General of the Football Federation is beating an unbalanced drum, and this is the fact that according to Clause (y) of Clause 4 of Article 67 of the Constitution, the Secretary General of the Federation is responsible for the implementation and support of the elections and is expected to be fully aware of the election regulations, not to The tasteful statements will inflame the atmosphere of the elections and as a result expose Iranian football to new challenges.

First of all, I need to remind you that according to the second paragraph of article 26 of the federation's constitution, the elections of the federation must be conducted based on the election regulations of the federation, and therefore no other source and legal text can be cited here. In addition, clause (d) of Article 2 of the election regulations declares: "The federation must ensure that any election regulations, the federation's statutes, as well as FIFA's statutes, regulations, instructions and decisions are the criteria of action."

No authority beyond the provisions of the election regulations of the federation can be given to the executive and supervisory bodies of the elections of the federation, and in this regard, paragraph (a) of article 5 of the election regulations, the strict implementation of the statutes, regulations of the federation and election regulations are among the general duties of the primary election committee. Therefore, this committee has the right to comment on the disqualification of each of the candidates until August 18, and it has decided to disqualify three of the candidates, and after this, there is no further issue of disqualification.

Clause (b) of the same article emphasizes that these electoral regulations and guidelines are in accordance with FIFA international regulations. According to FIFA regulations, the election committee is responsible after receiving all the documents and information from the legal and regulatory institutions, within the deadline set in the statutes, to give an opinion on the determination of the definitive task of rejecting or confirming the qualifications of the candidates, not until the night of the election for some to pursue their dreams. In reality, they seek to remove their competitors from the competition scene.

In all the elections and the established administrative procedure of the country, it has been witnessed that the failure to send a letter of disqualification means that the candidacy is valid and it is ridiculous to impose an additional condition on the provisions of the constitution and the election regulations, based on which, The condition of candidacy in the elections should be deferred to the submission of a letter from the country's judicial officials confirming that they do not have a legal problem to participate in the elections! First of all, such a condition and letter is not one of the necessary documents to verify a candidate's eligibility in football regulations, and secondly, if any of the competent institutions have legal and justified documents to oppose the candidacy of a candidate, within the stipulated time, they will submit the same to the primary election committee. They would arrange for the issue to be investigated at that stage.

If Mr. Kamrani Far has forgotten, I will remind him that for some of the candidates of the Board of Directors, no letter has been received by the federation to reject or confirm their qualifications, and this does not mean that the said candidates are not qualified. Clause (c) of Article 5 of the Election Regulations of the Federation plainly and clearly states that "supervising the exact implementation of election dates in accordance with the statutes" is one of the duties of the primary election committee, and Article 17 of the election regulations also states: "The general election assembly must To be held according to the constitution of the federation.The deadlines related to the General Election Assembly must be published on the official website of the Federation. It means that these deadlines are subjective and inviolable. Therefore, after August 18, any other decision about the qualifications of the nominated candidates has no meaning other than violating the strict implementation of the election dates. In addition, it can be an example of interfering in the independent election process, which is synonymous with the suspension of Iranian football. Do not doubt!
Amir Saed, a lawyer- sports lawyer and a member of the faculty of Tehran University