Thoriq appeals cancellation of his candidacy at FAM

Ahmed Thoriq (Tom) has appealed the cancellation of his candidacy for the FAM elections scheduled to be held on January 31.

The electoral committee of FAM decided on Wednesday to reject Thoriq's candidacy as he did not possess the required three club endorsement after Club Valencia's endorsement letter was ruled inadmissable.

Club Valencia had provided endorsement letters for both candidates contesting in the FAM election. Based on the fact that FIFA rules only allow each club to endorse a single candidate, the committee decided to cancel both endorsement letters submitted by the club.

Before the matter was appealed, questions rose regarding the legitimacy of the appeal committee of FAM. This is because according to the minutes of last year's FAM congress, the congress only appointed an electoral committee. They had not established an appeal committee.

Abdulla Ali was appointed as Chairman of the electoral committee, with Ahmeem Abdul Razzaq taking the post of Deputy Chairman.

As per chapter 1 of Article 12 of the 2015 edition of the FAM electoral code, "As per the FAM Electoral Law, three members of the electoral appeal committee will be elected at the same time as the members of the electoral committee for a four year term. One of these members must possess qualifications in the legal area."

However, FAM assured yesterday that Thoriq would be provided with the opportunity to appeal the electoral committee's decision.

The candidacy form for the election was first submitted by Thoriq. He visited the FAM offices on December 27 accompanied by Club Valencia's Chairman Abdulla Azmeen to hand in his application. After that, Mufaviz Hashim also submitted his candidacy with an endorsement letter from Valencia.

Upon Wednesday's decision of the electoral committee to reject both of Club Valencia's endorsement letters, Thoriq was left with endorsements from only two first division clubs, hence rendering his application disqualified.

The other two clubs endorsing Thoriq are TC Sports and Maziya. FAM regulations stipulate that each candidate should have the endorsement of a minimum of three first division clubs. Thoriq's opponent Mufaviz initially applied with five endorsements. Hence, even with the cancellation of Valencia's letter, his candidacy does not become invalid. The endorsing clubs are Club Green Streets, United Victory (UV), Super United Sports (SUS), Buru Sports Club and Eagles.

The appeal window closes at 4pm today. Should Thoriq fail to succeed with the appeal process, a vote will be taken to elect Mufaviz fot the post of FAM's president.