Mobile phones and cameras will be banned from polling booths at next week's FIFA presidential election to ensure each vote remains secret, one of the candidates said Wednesday. Frenchman Jerome Champagne said he raised the issue with the electoral committee because he was concerned some voters had come under pressure to photograph their ballot papers to prove they had taken part. FIFA's 209 member national associations (FAs) each hold one vote. Five candidates are standing to replace outgoing president Sepp Blatter, banned for eight years amid a widening graft scandal that has shaken world soccer's ruling body. The six continental confederations do not vote but four of them have nominated their preferred candidates. Champagne said he wrote to Domenico Scala, head of the electoral committee, Monday to say that "FIFA member associations and their leaders are under intense pressure to determine their vote on Feb. 26. In the reply seen by Reuters, Scala said all delegates would be reminded "the use of mobile phones, cameras or other electronic equipment suited to record the voting process are not permitted in the voting booths." It added that "ballot papers will only be handed out to delegates once they are in the voting booths." Champagne said he had also heard some FAs had come under government pressure at home over their votes. Blatter, Platini appeal decisions next week FIFA's appeals committee will announce its decisions regarding disgraced pair Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini at the beginning of next week, several sources claimed Wednesday. Suspended FIFA president Blatter and his UEFA counterpart Platini, likewise banned for eight years for ethics violations, had the appeals against their sanctions heard earlier this week. Blatter, 79, argued his case Tuesday at FIFA's headquarters in Zurich, while Platini, 60, also a FIFA vice president before his ban, was heard the day before. The pair were found to have abused their positions over a mysterious 2 million Swiss franc ($2 million, 1.8 million euros) payment made in 2011. FIFA seeks life bans for two South American officials FIFA's Ethics Committee Thursday recommended life bans for two former vice presidents of South American Football Confderation, CONMEBOL, over corruption. Luis Bedoya, a former member of the FIFA Executive Committee, a former CONMEBOL vice president and, until October 2015 the president of the Colombian FA, and Sergio Jadue, a former vice president of CONMEBOL and the former President of the Chilean FA, were targeted in reports by the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee. The two reports, together with recommendations for life bans, have been sent to the adjudicatory chamber of the Ethics Committee, which is chaired by Hans-Joachim Eckert. In a statement, FIFA said that both Bedoya and Jadue had been subject to US Department of Justice investigations at the end of 2015 during which the men had waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a two-count information charging them with "racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy."
