The Barcelona president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, may be obliged to resign after club members succeeded in a bid to force a referendum. Over 20,000 supporters signed up to support a censorship motion against the beleaguered president who has overseen an on-going crisis which culminated with the club captain, Lionel Messi, announcing that he wanted to leave. A vote on Bartomeu’s future will now be held by the start of November. If he loses, he and his board would be forced to step down with immediate effect and call early elections.
Supporters delivered 20,687 signatures supporting a vote of no confidence to the Camp Nou on Thursday evening. Backed by opposition figures and fans groups, the response was unprecedented, despite the difficulties posed by the pandemic and the fact that Barcelona are still playing behind closed doors, denying them a common meeting point. They had needed 16,521 signatures, 15% of the clubs socis or members, to bring a referendum. So high was the figure that there were calls for Bartomeu to step down immediately, although he has remained silent thus far.
“If I had twenty thousand people lined up against me, I wouldn’t continue,” said Marc Duch, who helped lead the campaign.
If Bartomeu does not step down, which appears likely given his determination to hold on to power, a 10-day period opens up in which an electoral body must be constructed, comprising the first two signatories of the motion, two board members from the club and a representative from the Catalan football federation. The first signatory is Jordi Farré, who has already declared his intention to stand in any future presidential elections.
That commission would then have a further 10 working days to validate the signatures and ensure that the figure is still over 16,251 and hold the referendum.
For the no confidence motion to pass, it needs a two-thirds majority. In the event of 66.7% voting against Bartomeu, he and his board will be forced to step down with immediate effect and elections will be called, probably in January or February. Presidential elections had already been scheduled for mid-March but Bartomeu and his board would have been able to continue until the summer. He was already unable to stand again, having reached the end of his term.
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