Barcelona’s electoral machinery is already in motion. The board of directors decided yesterday to call the members to the polls on the 15th of … March, a date that coincides with the weekend of the match against Sevilla, at a Camp Nou still under construction. The current president, Joan Laporta, starts as the clear favorite to revalidate the position against an opposition that does not end up dragging the social mass.
The board complied – partially – with the club’s statutes, which recommend that the elections be held on match day to facilitate participation. However, there is a possibility that the match against the Andalusian team will finally be played on Saturday the 14th, if Barça is still alive in the Champions League.
If Laporta achieves re-election and completes his mandate, which would extend until 2031, he would reach 17 years at the head of the club, only surpassed by Josep Lluís Núñez, who governed Barça for 22. It would also be the definitive consolidation of the so-called generation of 2003, which would prolong his control of Barça power for another five years.
Laporta’s resignation
As established by the statutes, Laporta must present his resignation before the formal call for elections, expectedly at the beginning of February. However, unlike other processes, a management committee will not be established. The president will leave the helm in the hands of a small group of managers he most trusts – a third of the current 17 -, with Rafael Yuste, first vice president, as the main reference.
The rivals that Laporta will face in the elections are not clear. At the moment the only ones who have made their candidacy official have been Víctor Font, who was already Laporta’s main rival in 2021 with 30% of the votes; Xavier Vilajoana, who then failed to gather the necessary guarantees; and the financier Marc Ciria. Meanwhile, Joan Camprubí Montal, promoter of the ‘Som un Clam’ movement, seems more inclined to seek a consensus candidacy than to lead a solo adventure.
