Blatter re-elected as FIFA president
Mike Collett

SEOUL, May 29 (Reuters) - FIFA president Sepp Blatter swept to a stunning election victory and a second four-year term on Wednesday, after a bruising campaign that exposed deep rifts within world soccer's governing body over his leadership.

Misery for Issa Hayatou (Reuters)

Blatter, accused of plunging FIFA into financial crisis, defeated Cameroon's Issa Hayatou by 139 votes to 56 in a secret ballot of its national associations in South Korea's capital Seoul, two days before the start of the World Cup finals. The no-holds-barred election campaign was dominated by allegations of corruption and mismanagement levelled against Blatter, some of them from members of his own executive committee.

'Today was victory for the truth,' Blatter, a 66-year-old Swiss, told a news conference after the vote at FIFA's 53rd ordinary congress in Seoul. 'I have been given a very clear mandate and have a responsibility to first win the confidence of the football family from the inside, and then gain the credibility outside,' he said.

After being declared winner, a visibly elated Blatter held centre-stage on the podium with his arms aloft - before being greeted by his daughter, Corinne, and his 15-month-old grand-daughter Serena, whom he held tightly in a brief embrace.

A huge majority of delegates gave him a standing ovation. He was embraced wildly by his supporters, and somewhat less effusively by his rivals.

With 197 votes cast and two spoilt ballot papers, Blatter overcame serious allegations of mismanagement to win by a huge majority of 83 votes -- far more than when he first won election to world soccer's top job in 1998.

On that occasion, he defeated Sweden's Lennart Johansson, president of European soccer's governing body UEFA, by 111-80 votes. This time he crushed a rival who had confidently predicted he had the support of around 100 delegates before the vote.

OPPONENTS DEVASTATED

Blatter's victory leaves his political opponents utterly devastated as he also has a majority of his supporters in the newly constituted executive committee, which will convene for business later in the year.

Blatter, magnanimous in victory, described his 55-year-old rival as an honourable opponent who fought the often bitter campaign 'like a true gentleman'. But he struggled to keep his feelings in check during an emotional victory address. 'The people of football do not lie,' he told delegates in French and Spanish. 'You cannot imagine what this means for me having been accused for months by a directed press what a bad man I am, but thanks to you all, I cannot be so bad as I was described,' he said, adding: 'Let's forget what has happened, let us restore our unity and our credibility.'

Hayatou, head of the Confederation of African Football, congratulated Blatter. 'As in the past, he can count on my readiness to work with him in his job,' he told delegates.

Blatter then urged all the delegates to hold hands for the unity of football. 'Do it, do it,' he urged them. He then took the hand of his estranged general secretary, Michel Zen-Ruffinen, FIFA's most senior non-elected official, who authored a report against his management style. But the public show of unity is unlikely to last much longer than the end of the World Cup, which kicks off on Friday when champions France start the defence of their title against Senegal in Seoul.

Zen-Ruffinen's report, handed to the executive committee on May 3, alleged that Blatter could have committed criminal acts under the Swiss penal code for the way he had managed FIFA over the last four years. The report is now with the prosecutor in Zurich, who may yet instigate criminal charges against Blatter by the end of the year. Zen-Ruffinen's position as FIFA's general secretary is untenable and it is inevitable that he will be replaced as soon as Blatter can remove him from office.

At the news conference after the congress, Blatter declined to go into detail, but he said he had asked for 100 days to present structural proposals to his new executive. 'I have heard the general secretary say he is in trouble, and he is right. He is in big trouble,' he said, but he added: 'For the time being, he is still here.'

Hayatou, who failed to carry the votes he needed from his own confederation of Africa, or of Europe, where he was heavily supported by UEFA and Johansson, was sanguine in defeat. 'In my opinion, 56 votes is not the number of a loser and I am really satisfied at the outcome of this election. I shall work with the president, and I shall work with FIFA for unity in the future,' he said.

MUCH TO DO

An enormous amount of work remains to be done before the credibility and prestige of FIFA can be restored. Throughout two days of tense and sometimes ill-tempered debate, delegates spoke for and against Blatter, who has been accused by his critics of plunging FIFA into the worst crisis in its 98-year history. A special congress on Tuesday on FIFA's financial position was one of the stormiest public meetings in the organisation's history.

Blatter's political opponents appeared stunned by the size of their defeat. FIFA vice-presidents Chung Mong-joon of South Korea, which is co-hosting the World Cup finals with Japan, and Johansson were the powerful architects of Hayatou's campaign. 'I hope we can work together, we have to work together to bring FIFA together. This result was not an accident. We have to accept it and move forward,' Chung said. Chung was highly critical of Blatter in the opening speech on Wednesday. He said Blatter had plunged FIFA into crisis and was responsible for damage to its prestige.

Johansson said: 'I am very disappointed and I am surprised. I thought it would be a more equal game,' but added: 'I am prepared for harmony again. You must believe in that and I am prepared to do my best, but it's not that easy starting, although we must be prepared to forget.'

Zen-Ruffinen stood his ground and vowed not to resign. 'I still back what I said, I've shown courage and a lot of people in the administration are on my side. I am not resigning but I probably will have to leave,' he said.

The first job for Blatter and his new executive committee will be to restore credibility as far as their finances are concerned. Although FIFA's financial director Urs Linsi reported on Tuesday that FIFA had more than 900 million Swiss francs ($572 million) in the bank and were in a sound state, other speakers told of a different story. FIFA vice-president David Will, head of the internal audit committee set up to examine the state of FIFA's finances, said in a letter earlier this week that if FIFA was a business it would have to declare itself insolvent under Swiss law.