Voting in the Barcelona presidential elections closed on Saturday evening with a leading poll giving a comfortable victory to the incumbent Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Catalan public television station TV3 reported that an exit poll of 5,000 voters at the Camp Nou carried out by TNS gave Bartomeu 49.5 per cent of the votes, with his main rival Joan Laporta, a former president, on 36.6 per cent.
The other candidates, businessman Agusti Benedito and lawyer and former club spokesman Toni Freixa, were on 7.8 per cent and 4.8 per cent respectively, according to the same poll.
Voting closed at 9pm local time (11pm UAE) and the official result of the election was due to be announced by the club at around 11:30pm (1.30am UAE).
If the exit poll is confirmed, the 52-year-old Bartomeu, who took over as president early last year after his predecessor Sandro Rosell stepped down, will lead the reigning Spanish and European champions for the next six years.
Polls opened at 9am local time (11am UAE) with almost 110,000 members entitled to vote. With two hours left before the polls closed, a total of 40,584 ‘socios’ had voted, a turnout of almost 37 per cent.
Barcelona, just like their great rivals Real Madrid but in contrast to other leading European clubs, are owned by their members — of whom there are more than 150,000 in total — and elections are usually held every six years.
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However, this election was called a year early by Bartomeu at a time when tensions inside the club were running high because of poor relations between Barca coach Luis Enrique and star player Lionel Messi — something that was remedied in dramatic fashion when they won the treble of Champions League, Primera Liga and Copa del Rey in the spring.
The team’s success on the field and the club’s success off it, with Barcelona returning a record profit of €608 million (Dh2.4bn), meant Bartomeu was the favourite to beat the challenge of Laporta.
“We must continue to be the number one club and these six years are very important,” Bartomeu said after casting his vote on Saturday morning.
Laporta was in charge from 2003-10 and has to his credit that he appointed Pep Guardiola to the coaching job in 2008 — a decision which sparked a trophy-laden spell of success — although his financial record has been criticised.
Laporta attacked Bartomeu for standing despite facing criminal charges along with Rosell.
“We have two men, Mr Bartomeu and (his predecessor Sandro) Rosell, who are being pursued for corruption ... if they had a minimum of decency they would not stand,” said Laporta at a press conference when he announced his decision to stand.
Rosell, a former ally of Laporta’s before the two fell out in 2005, resigned last year when investigations began into alleged misappropriation of funds in the signing of Brazilian star Neymar from Santos.
Bartomeu, who had been the vice-president, stepped up to replace Rosell but in May a court ordered him to stand trial along with the club in the Neymar case.
Laporta, 53, has also criticised Bartomeu’s more nuanced stand on Catalan independence which is in stark contrast to his own position.
He has spent the past eight years dabbling in politics, and said he wants Barca to return to the “values” of his previous term in office, with an emphasis on bringing through players from La Masia, the club’s renowned youth academy, and bringing back the Unicef logo on team shirts.
He also said that he would look to sign midfielder Paul Pogba from Juventus — he is also a reported target of English side Manchester City. However, Bartomeu has made clear any interest in Pogba will be left down to manager Enrique, who has previously claimed the France international is not of high importance to his team.
Barcelona are currently serving a Fifa-imposed transfer ban that means any new signings cannot play for the club until 2016.
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