The Barça elections will be a head-to-head contest

Barcelona"We need the elections to be a plebiscite between the Barça of the past and the Barça of the future." Víctor Font's mantra for the past few weeks has finally become a reality: as Barça announced this Thursday, Marc Ciria obtained 2,247 valid member signatures but did not reach the threshold of 2,337. Therefore, the incumbent Joan Laporta (7,226 valid signatures) and candidate Font (4,440) will face off on March 15. This Monday, Ciria submitted 2,844 signatures at the Auditori 1899, 598 more than those validated in the final count. The signature validation process was much more unforgiving than expected: while approximately 6% of signatures are typically lost, Marc Ciria saw 21% of his signatures discarded. Joan Laporta lost 944 signatures, 11% of those submitted, and Víctor Font, 744 (14%).

As explained by Barça's interim vice-president, Josep Cubells, during the signature count, Ciria's pre-candidacy asked the club to accept a photocopy of the required identity card. According to members of the group who spoke to ARA, they believed this requirement could violate data protection laws. Ciria's request was not accepted by the Barça electoral board. As Cubells himself explained, the counting of all the ballots was carried out in accordance with the regulations established before the ballots were given to the pre-candidates and was done in the presence of a notary. Ciria is 90 ballots short of making the cut.

Doubt about whether Ciria would ultimately make the cut has been growing in recent days. On Sunday night, just hours before he had to submit the required signatures at the club offices, the pre-candidate tried to make a move for a joint candidacy with Font. While until recently Ciria had always postponed talks until after the signature count was complete, at the last minute he wanted to discuss the possibility of running together, although he was confident he would make the cut. This move raised concerns among Font's camp, who, despite initially appearing open to a hypothetical alliance, ultimately rejected Ciria's demands. Ciria was asking for significant weight on the list and imposed vetoes on former Laporta and Bartorosella supporters, according to sources close to the negotiations who spoke to ARA.

"We won the first game"

Without knowing how many valid signatures the other pre-candidates submitted, the count of signatures against the club's management stands at 6,687, to which must be added the 1,686 signatures submitted by Xavier Vilajoana, Daniel Juan, and William Maddock. Once the count was finished, Joan Laporta obtained 7,226. The opposition celebrated these results—and quite enthusiastically: "We've already won the first round," Víctor Font told his campaign staff on Tuesday morning. Laporta downplayed the drop in signatures compared to 2021—when he submitted 10,257—saying that Barcelona fans are less mobilized than five years ago thanks to good management, and that at that time "there was a greater need for change." However, the opposition points out that this demobilization has also affected them, and yet they have emerged stronger.

It remains to be seen what role Font will play regarding the pre-candidates who didn't make the cut. In recent weeks, he has invited other members of the opposition to join Nosotros, and he could keep the door open to those who wish to do so. In fact, Joan Camprubí Montal, leader of the Som un Clam collective, has participated in most of the talks about a single candidacy, although he ultimately didn't run as a pre-candidate. If a list that brings together different Barça fan groups is finalized, it's possible he could also have a place on it. His role and that of Xavier Vilajoana also remain uncertain.

The last time a pre-candidacy was eliminated after the vote count was in 2015. In those elections, which Josep Maria Bartomeu won, the Seguimiento FCB group—which has joined in these elections—was eliminated. In the Barcelona offices, the minimum required was 2,534 signatures. However, the pre-candidacy did not pass the count and fell 16 signatures short of the threshold. Furthermore, one has to go back to 2000 to find a head-to-head contest between presidential candidates. On that occasion, Joan Gaspart and Lluís Bassat engaged in a close race in which the former ultimately prevailed with 54.80% of the vote. Since then, the remaining elections (2003, 2010, 2015, and 2021) have featured more than three candidates.