In the event that the elections for the presidency of Barça are suspended, the club will remain in the hands of the board of directors until the elections can be held. According to experts in sports law, Carles Tusquets would maintain his duties as interim president, although he would continue to have very limited functions as president. In this way, the process would be stopped and resumed when the health conditions allowed, with the same candidates who had passed the signature cut and with the same electoral census. “It would be like pausing the video,” says Xavier Albert Canal, a lawyer in sports law.
The Barça Statutes do not include the suspension of the electoral process because a scenario with a pandemic like the current one had not been foreseen. According to Canal, the club’s electoral board “does not have the power to suspend the elections” and, therefore, should resort to the legal protection given by a higher authority: the General Secretariat of Sport and Procicat.
However, suspending an election can only be done “because of force majeure”, and “a state of alarm or confinement is already”, he gives examples. However, Canal, who does not assess health risks, believes that with the current restrictions could go to the polls, provided that the mobility of members who do not live in the municipality where there is a polling station is allowed.
The process would not start from scratch
On Monday, the day the pre-candidates handed over the tickets to the club, some campaign teams speculated that, if the process was interrupted, it would have to start from scratch again, even with the collection of tickets. This, according to the lawyer, “would only happen if the elections were annulled.” A situation that can only occur “if any type of fraud or irregularity is observed in the process.” But this is not the current scenario. Therefore, “the same rules of the game would be maintained, including the census, and the only thing that would change would be the date of the election.”
In the meantime, however, who would govern Barça? Well, the same thing that is currently being done, the chairman of the management committee, Carles Tusquets. While the Articles of Association specify that the manager may not be in office for more than three months, in the case of force majeure, it would extend her term of office until she could vote. “What would not change are its limitations. I would still not be able to sign, commit to future spending … ”
Canal explains that, as this Statute does not include this possibility, it is necessary to pay attention to the Catalan sports law. But there is no specification on the issue either. Thus, it is advisable to review the state-wide regulations, which provide that these interim presidents extend the term until a new president is elected.
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