Shin Moon-sun, a candidate in the election for Korea Football Association (KFA) president, speaks during a press conference outside the KFA House in Seoul, Jan. 10. Yonhap

The controversial election for the national football chief has been postponed for the second time, after key officials resigned en masse Friday while facing accusations of bias.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) said the election for its president, initially rescheduled from Wednesday to Jan. 23, will be held at a later date. The decision came minutes after the eight members of its election management committee stepped down all at once under mounting pressure.

The election was first postponed after the Seoul Central District Court granted an injunction filed by one of the three candidates, Huh Jung-moo, to stop the proceedings on Tuesday.

In concurring with Huh, the court cited violations of procedural rules "that substantially infringed upon the fairness of the election and thus impacted the election process."

The court pointed out that the KFA held the draw to select voters for the electoral college without a neutral observer, and thus it was difficult to ensure the transparency and impartiality of the process.

The court also said it was impossible to confirm whether the election management committee was assembled in accordance with KFA rules because the KFA had not identified those members.

Huh is up against Chung Mong-gyu, who is going for his fourth term, and Shin Moon-sun, a former player and TV analyst.

The committee had announced Thursday afternoon that the election will be held Jan. 23 instead, and Shin and Huh immediately rejected the new schedule on the grounds that they had never agreed to it in the first place.

At a press conference Friday, Shin threatened to take legal action to stop the election and also to have Chung disqualified as a candidate.

On Jan. 2, the sports ministry dismissed the KFA's appeal to overturn the ministry's demand to discipline Chung over a series of rules violations. The ministry has asked for "at least the suspension" of Chung, and the KFA must impose a disciplinary measure by Feb. 2.

Shin said he believes the KFA's election committee hastily rescheduled the election before the end of January and the long Lunar New Year holiday to give Chung a chance to be elected.

"If Chung is suspended before the deadline set by the sports ministry, he will lose his eligibility as a candidate," Shin said. "With their back against the wall, Chung and the KFA have been acting recklessly, as if they've lost their mind."

In a statement, Huh said the election management committee has no authority to reschedule the presidential election and accused it of lying to the media and the public.

In response to these charges, all eight members of the election management committee said they will resign en masse Friday.

Both Huh and Shin have claimed that the committee has a distinct pro-Chung bias because some members have history with Chung.

The committee remained defiant and claimed that it had carried out all steps "in a fair and objective manner."

"The court did not raise issues with the composition of the committee and how the members were selected," the committee said. "Despite that, groundless accusations and complaints have been made throughout the election period. Even though we tried to gather opinions from candidates to ensure a smooth running of the process, while also respecting the court's decision, the malicious slandering has continued.

"We express our deep regret over this situation, and we have decided it is impossible for us to fulfill our responsibility in a normal manner," the committee added.

Huh and Shin both welcomed the KFA's decision to scrap the plan to press ahead with the election on Jan. 23.

"We feel like the election will be managed properly and impartially at last," an official in Huh's camp said. "The best way to ensure impartiality is to ask the National Election Commission (NEC) to handle the process, rather than having the current KFA leadership group appoint members to the election management committee."

A representative in Shin's camp also said the election watchdog should take over.

"We hope the KFA will take this opportunity to address all the problems and hold a transparent election," the official said.

Chung blamed "baseless criticism" by his two rival candidates for causing disruption to the election.

"This situation has only deepened mistrust and many people in football who were hoping for a fair election have been disappointed," Chung said in a statement. "Some even worry that the KFA will stop functioning."

Chung insisted that, contrary to Huh and Shin's claims, he had nothing to do with the composition of the election management committee, because it was assembled after Chung had officially entered the race and had thus been temporarily suspended from his duty.

"With repeated disruptions that have prolonged the leadership vacuum, projects pursued by the KFA have come under grave threat," Chung continued. "And yet, the other candidates have shown no concern for that, and they are only intent on disparaging the KFA and delaying the election with their baseless criticism and false information."

Chung called on Huh and Shin to shift their focus from attacking him and to instead promoting their policy goals during the campaign. He also asked election officials to take action against any conduct detrimental to the election.

Chung did join his two opponents in urging the KFA to run an impartial and transparent election and to ask the NEC to handle the process.

A KFA official said the football body had asked the NEC on Wednesday if it could take control of the process. The official said the KFA will still need its own election body to form the electoral college. (Yonhap)