The Argentinian Football Association (AFA) have re-elected Julio Grondona as president for another term -- the eighth time across 32 years he has won a mandate.
Grondona received near unanimous backing late on Tuesday as 46 of 49 officials cast their vote for him despite media allegations of corruption swirling around the body.
"Grondona has been re-elected unanimously with all 46 votes of those present," official Noray Nakis revealed.
Even so, a group of provincial clubs who do not have a vote in the process protested, saying they wanted businessman Daniel Vila for the post instead.
Grondona, 79 and a FIFA vice-president, has been AFA president since 1979.
Vila, who owns a television station and is chairman of lower league club Independiente Rivadavia de Mendoza, has been fighting to have the voting cartel extended beyond the 49 officials mandated by existing AFA statutes.
Fellow businessman Carlos Avila called in a radio interview for the AFA's accounts to be overseen while his lawyer, Mariano Cuneo Libarona, alleged that Grondona holds 12 undeclared bank accounts in Europe and the United States.
Grondona hit out at his detractors, accusing them of "extortion."
Grondona won the support of leading clubs such as Boca Juniors, River Plate, San Lorenzo, Racing Club, Rosario Central, Newell's Old Boys, Estudiantes and Gimnasia.
Three clubs' representatives -- those from Independiente, Velez Sarsfield and Atletico Rafaela - were unable to vote as they could not get inside the AFA headquarters owing to a huge media scrum assembled trying to buttonhole Vila.
In a statement, the AFA denounced what it termed "a campaign of defamation" by the Vila camp.
Source: AFP
