The electoral college for the next Korea Football Association presidential election will be dramatically expanded to more than 10,000 members. Electronic voting methods, including mobile platforms, are also under consideration to improve accessibility and efficiency.
The K-Football Innovation Committee reached that consensus Monday morning at its fourth meeting, held at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul and chaired by co-chair Park Ji-sung.
Speaking immediately after the roughly two-hour closed-door session — attended by all committee members, including Korean Sport & Olympic Committee President Yoo Seung-min — Park said the committee is discussing a plan to adjust the electoral college to suit the KFA's circumstances by adding members from professional, semi-professional, university and promotion-relegation league tiers, building on the KSOC's proposed reform framework. "In that case, the recommended size of the electoral college is expected to exceed 10,000," he said.
Park added that the committee has agreed to complete the revision of the KSOC member federation regulations — which will serve as the legal basis for the reform — by August.
Under current KSOC member federation rules, presidential electoral colleges are capped at 300 members under an indirect election system. The KFA has operated within that limit, drawing its electoral college from a narrow pool that includes officials of regional football associations and national federations, along with a small number of coaches, players and referees.
The committee aims to broaden representation and fairness in the election by incorporating the voices of the many football figures who sustain the game at the grassroots level — from professional and semi-professional ranks to university and lower-division promotion-relegation leagues.
"It is realistically difficult to include everyone in the electoral college, so we are still discussing where to draw the line," Park said. "Given the significant increase in size from the current scale, the share of players and coaches from the field will naturally grow considerably."
He went on to say the committee is exploring various voting methods, including electronic voting. "There are budget considerations, and we will need further discussion on which approach is most reasonable," he said.
Asked why the committee had not kept minutes during its first three meetings, Park said the key points of debate on major agenda items are documented, but the specific remarks of individual members are not recorded. "If minutes containing specific statements were made public, there is a risk of making the situation worse," he said.
yjc@heraldcorp.com
