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FAS Elections - As It Happened This Morning

Newly elected FAS President Lim Kia Tong and Team LKT addressing the press after the elections.
Photo: Andrew Him

Aaron Chan
Writer / Editor
The Unofficial S.League Podcast
Andrew Him
Photographer
The Unofficial S.League Podcast
Christina Seah-Rodrigues
Photographer
The Unofficial S.League Podcast

"The real work starts now and my team and I promise we will work tirelessly to heal Singapore football and bring back the glory days." These were the first words new Football Association of Singaporr (FAS) President Lim Kia Tong said when he spoke to the press after the conclusion of the first ever FAS elections held earlier today.

FAS's new leadership is comprised of 15 council positions which include a president, a deputy president, four vice presidents and nine council member positions. Out of these nine, three council member hopefuls had to contest as part of either slate while the remaining six council member positions were contested by individual candidates. 

The elections saw a landslide victory for Team Lim Kia Tong's (LKT) favour as they made a clean sweep of all positions, with Team LKT winning the slate elections with a 30 out of 44 votes. 13 votes were made in favour of Team Game Changers headed by businessman Bill Ng while 1 vote was invalid.

Here's a summary of how things went down this morning:

8:00am - The Unofficial S.League Podcast team arrived at the Black Box and the mainstream media was seen setting up their recording equipment around the auditorium's main entrance.

9:05am - Team LKT's Teo Hock Seng arrives in the vicinity but turns into Kallang Wave Mall instead of stepping into the auditorium.

9:15am - Team TGC's Lai Boon Teck & Shahrul Rahim arrived looking sharp in matching suits. Lai gladly obliges the media's requests for photos.

The media gathers outside the glass doors of the Black Box. | Photo: Andrew Him

9:25am - Independent candidate and Chairman of Tanjong Pagar United, Edward Liu, arrives in a red polo tee-shirt and flashes his pearly whites at the media who were present.

9:45am - Team LKT is seen walking out from Kallang Wave Mall towards the Black Box with Lim Kia Tong leading in front. Various photographers rush forward to get photos of the team.

Team LKT en route to the Black Box. | Photo: Andrew Him

Yishun Sentek Mariners Head Coach Yakob Hashim and Balestier Khalsa FC Chairman S. Thavaneson arriving at Black Box this morning. Both gentlemen are with Team LKT. | Photo: Christina Seah-Rodrigues

10:00am -  Independent candidate James Lim appears in full Woodlands Wellington FC garb.

10:15am - 15 minutes before registration closes and TGC leader Bill Ng is still nowhere to be seen. The media are seen murmuring and craning their necks to spot Ng's arrival.

10:20am - A flurry of activity as Bill Ng arrives at the Black Box and leads his team into the auditorium. Ng is seen embracing several affiliates on the way in.

Arrival of Bill Ng | Photo: Andrew Him

The media surrounds Team TGC leader Bill Ng as he makes his entrance. | Photo: Andrew Him

Bill Ng arrives at the Black Box with team TGC. | Photo: Christina Seah-Rodrigues

10:35am - The media frenzy fades to a standstill as the candidates and affiliates are ushered into the auditorium before the doors were closed.

11:00am - Voting began for the slate teams for the first ballot and a two-third majority was required for either team to win.

11:20am - All 44 affiliates made their votes and counting of the votes begun.

11:30am - Team LKT was announced as the winners of the slate elections with 30 out of 44 votes. Sharda Parvin was also been deemed elected by acclamation as Team LKT did not have a female candidate on its slate.

11:35am - Voting for the five remaining individual council members began.

12:30pm - Votes were still being counted for the individual council member positions. Lim Kia Tong and Bill Ng were spotted heading out of the auditorium at different times presumably to use the lavatory, sparking another media frenzy as photographers snapped away furiously.

12:40pm - Lim Tong Hai, Rizal Rasudin & Yakob Hashim were announced to have been elected for three of the five council member seats. All three are aligned to Team LKT.

Teo steps out for a breather and is immediately mobbed by the media. | Photo: Andrew Him

12:45pm - Teo Hock Seng is seen walking towards the glass doors with a bounce in his stride and steps out for some air amidst a swirl of media attention. When prompted for his thoughts, the Komoco Motors group MD gladly obliged, telling the press that "LKT have a lot of work to do." before popping back into the auditorium area.

FIFA representative Sanjeevan Balasingam speaking to the press. | Photo: Aaron Chan
1:05pm - FIFA representative Sanjeevan Balasingam steps out to address the media, saying that FIFA was "very happy" with how the polls had been conducted.

1:15pm - Michael Foo and Kelvin Teo, both aligned to Team LKT, were announced to have been voted in as the last two individuals council members.

1:25pm - Various affiliates are seen streaming out of the auditorium. Amongst them, former Woodlands Wellington team manager R. Vengadasalam is seen with flower garlands around his neck.

R. Vengadasalam, who is supporting Team LKT, seen with garlands as he stepped out of the auditorium. | Photo: Andrew Him

 1:30pm - Former S.League CEO Lim Chin is seen mingling with some of the affiliates as they take their lunch.

Former S.League CEO Lim Chin | Photo: Andrew Him

1:35pm - Members of Team TGC are seen dispersed among the affiliates and shaking their hands while Team LKT assembles for a group photo for the press.

Photo: Andrew Him

Photo: Andrew Him

1:40pm - Team LKT talks to the press with Lim Kia Tong addressing the media's queries. At the same time, Bill Ng is seen leaving the premises.

1:45pm - The media chases after Bill Ng, who was quoted as saying that his team had to "respect the result" after losing in the FAS Elections. Fellow TGC teammate Krishna Ramachandra was also quoted as saying that Team LKT now had a strong mandate from the affiliates and this is good for Singapore football.

Team TGC leaving the election premises.
Photo: Andrew Him

2:10pm - Team LKT holds a press conference as the new leadership of FAS. Lim Kia Tong stated that "Today was not a victory for Team LKT, it was a victory for Singapore football."

2:30pm - The press conference is concluded and the curtain call is made on Singapore's first ever elections for the FAS leadership.


The new FAS council is made up of:

President: Lim Kia Tong
Deputy President: Bernard Tan
Vice-President: Edwin Tong
Vice-President: Teo Hock Seng
Vice-President: S Thavaneson
Vice-President: Razali Saad
Council Member: Forrest Li
Council Member: Dinesh Nair
Council Member: Darwin Jalil
Council Member: Lim Tong Hai
Council Member: Rizal Rasudin
Council Member: Yakob Hashim
Council Member: Michael Foo
Council Member:  Kelvin Teo

 The term of the 15-member FAS Council commences from 29 April 2017 and it will last for a period of four years.


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