Narinpong Jinapak, FAT’s president for legal affairs, submitted a letter to Sakol Wannapong, governor of the Sports Authority of Thailand, shortly after the vote results were known.
He urged Mr Sakol, as registrar of sports clubs and their management teams, not to endorse the new president and council, saying the process was in violation of FAT’s rules.
He also threatened to take legal action against Mr Sakol if he fails to take his advice.
Former police chief Pol Gen Somyot Poompunmuang won a landslide victory in the vote, winning 64 of all 68 voters present.
In today’s letter, Mr Narinpong challenged the process, saying candidate applications had been accepted directly without going through FAT’s secretariat as required by FAT’s administrative regulations.
He also claimed the election of 30 voting representatives from the Regional League (Division Two, third tier) also breached FAT rules and barred some legitimate clubs from choosing the new president. Mr Narinpong accused Mr Sakol of “expressing his opinions without authority” when he ruled the 30 former voting representatives of the Regional League were no longer qualified to vote.
“As registrar of sports clubs, you have no authority to give opinion of this issue,” Mr Narinpong wrote in the letter.
The normalisation committee also set forth new rules in conflict with FAT’s existing rules and imposed them with retrospective effect, or on Feb 11, the letter claimed.
Of 68 voters present today’s vote, 62 voted for Pol Gen Somyot while four voted for former national football team coach Charnwit Phalajivin and one for Bangkok FC chairman Natthaphol Teepasuwan. There was one abstention.
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