Defiant Blatter wins FIFA vote amid corruption storm
PUBLISHED ONMay 31, 2015 4:13 AM
ZURICH, Switzerland - Sepp Blatter won a fifth term as FIFA president on Friday in a dramatic end to an angry campaign dominated by a corruption storm that engulfed the leadership of world football.
His challenger Prince Ali bin al Hussein withdrew from the race after preventing Blatter from getting the required majority in the first round of voting.
Blatter, who had defied calls to resign, raised his arms in triumph and promised the congress to be the "commander" who "guides this boat FIFA" out of the corruption turmoil it has sunk into.
"I'm not perfect. Nobody is perfect. But we will do a good job together," he said.
The 79-year-old Blatter also indicated he would not stand again, saying he would hand over a "strong" FIFA to "my successor" in four years.
The end of the campaign was overshadowed by the arrest in Zurich on Wednesday of seven FIFA officials, including two vice presidents, accused by US authorities of taking tens of millions of dollars in bribes.
A top US federal investigator said he was "fairly confident" there would be another round of indictments in the case, the New York Times reported Friday.
"We strongly believe there are other people and entities involved in criminal acts," said Richard Weber, leader of the US Internal Revenue Service criminal investigations unit. He would not identify the remaining targets or say if they included Blatter.
Swiss police are also investigating the award of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar which have also been surrounded by corruption allegations.
Blatter fell seven votes short of the two-thirds majority to win in the first round. He got 133 votes to Prince Ali's 73.
The brother of Jordan's king got further than any challenger to Blatter, highlighting divisions within the scandal-tainted body he will struggle to overcome. The prince thanked those "brave enough" to vote for him before announcing he was pulling out.
In a final plea for votes, Blatter vowed to lead FIFA out of the corruption controversy if reelected.