Barcelona presidential frontrunner Joan Laporta has claimed that attempts by his rivals to postpone the election would be “a fraud against democracy.”
Carlos Tusquets is the current interim president of the Blaugrana but elections will be held on 24 January with multiple candidates vying to replace the departed Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Victor Font – thought to be Laporta’s primary rival for the role – has cast doubt on the elections taking place on the proposed date due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the lack of options to vote remotely.
Font told Deportes Cuatro on Tuesday, on an issue dominating Barcelona news: “Not being able to vote in your town, for example, is more than an objective reason to say that it cannot be that only 10,000-15,000 members vote.”
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Laporta has now responded, in quotes carried by Cadena Cope: “Our spirit is to always collaborate with the authorities, but hey, cancelling the elections would be a fraud against democracy.
“I do not see that there are objective reasons of any kind to suspend the elections. The Generalitat should not intervene in Barça’s elections, we are a private entity.
“We defend the interests of Barça and here all the candidates should agree. What matters is that this mismanagement ends, and decisions can be made in the transfer market, on the pitch.
“But I do not get involved in what the other pre-candidates do, but it is convenient for Barça to already have a president who makes decisions.”
Font is thought to be the second favourite to assume the position, having collected 4,710 members signatures to ensure his place on the final ballot in comparison to Laporta’s tally of 10,257 member signatures – fourth on the all-time record list at this stage.
Toni Freixa and Emili Rousaud are the two remaining candidates for the elections, with both viewed as outsiders in the running.
It remains unclear if the elections will be postponed or not – with it thought that those lagging behind in the running are calling for a delay in order to buy them time to shore up their support and draw out the campaign.
