FC Barcelona’s elections were officially called, and Bartomeu and his board have now left the club.
Some precandidates have already held pressers (Toni Freixa and Agusti Benedito), but there are more people about to do the same (Jordi Farre, Joan Laporta and Jordi Majo).
To avoid further doubts, let’s talk about how the election process will take place, with the exact dates for each step:
June 12th until June 16th: There will be a draw by the Managing Board to determine the electoral table and its members.
June 17th and 18th: The Electoral Board and the Electoral Table will be chosen, following the draw.
June 19th: The precandidates will be allowed to ask the club to provide them with the slips of paper necessary so they can collect the signatures from the socis (club members) approving their candidacy. Each candidate must present a minimum of 2.534 signatures.
June 19th until June 23rd: The precandidates will have 4 days to come up with at least 2.534 socis to sign the proof they would vote for them.
June 24th until June 26th: The club will decide if the signatures brought in check out. If so, the precandidates would be allowed to become actual candidates.
June 27th until July 5th: The candidates will present their candidacies, with all their projects for the club.
July 9th until July 16th: The actual campaign will take place. Debates between the candidates, meeting with socis, presentations, the works. The actual fight happens during these 7 days.
July 17th: Rest day. Candidates can’t have any activities.
July 18th: The actual vote, from 9 am until 9 pm, Barcelona time.
So what does all of this means?
It basically means that from today (June 11th) until June 19th, the precandidates have all the time in the world to hold pressers and announce their plans and projects for the club.
Their only actual, formal step so they can go from precandidates to formal candidates takes place from June 19th until the 23rd, where there will have 4 days to come up with 2.534 socis to sign a piece of paper saying they would vote for them.
From the looks of it, 2-3 smaller candidates most likely won’t get the 2.532 signatures they need.
The focus during the campaign will most likely be on Bartomeu, Laporta and Benedito.
But the dirt will start being thrown next week. So buckle up.