Bahrain Mirror: The Bahraini FIFA presidential candidate, Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, lost to the Swiss Gianni Infantino in the FIFA elections that took place in the Switzerland's Zurich on Friday (February 27, 2016).

Al Khalifa's chances of winning were destroyed in the second round after Infantino garnered 115 votes to 88 gained by the Bahraini candidate.

The Jordanian Prince Ali bin al-Hussein; however, came in third place on 4 votes and the French former Fifa executive Jérôme Champagne in fourth with nothing.

After Infantino took a narrow 88-85 lead in the first round of voting, with the Jordanian Prince on 27 and Champagne with seven, the FIFA presidential election went into a second round which left Infantino a winner.

Bahraini dissenters rallied outside the FIFA compound, and celebrated Al Khalifa's defeat in the elections. Following the announcement of the results, protesters chanted slogans mocking his loss. BIRD organization has launched a strong campaign against his candidacy and received wide coverage in western media outlets.

Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa headed an official commission formed by the king's son in 2011 to investigate "the violations committed by some of the sports officials during the political unrest in the kingdom," according to the resolution made.

Al Khalifa attempted to affect the campaign that was launched against him by accompanying some of the athletes, who were arrested in 2011, to Zurich, but he failed to gain the sufficient amount of votes to win the presidency.

Tags: Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, FIFA

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