Joan Laporta, Candidate To FC Barcelona Chairman

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Barcelona’s presidential elections are creeping closer and there look to be four men left in the running after the candidates presented their signatures to the club on Monday.

Candidates needed at least 2,257 signatures to stand for the Barcelona presidency which saw a number of contenders drop out.

Pere Riera and Agusti Benedito announced early in the day they hadn’t made the cut and have reportedly been joined by Jordi Farre, Fernandez Ala and Xavi Vilajoana.

Farre admitted he “made mistakes” by promising pizza and tattoos as part of his election bid. He also made it clear who he’d be voting for now: “I will go home and on election day I will vote for Joan Laporta.”

The early favorite does indeed look to be Laporta who has picked up 10,257 signatures, placing him ahead of Victor Font who has announced 4,710.

Laporta has collected more than double the signatures of his nearest challenger and has offered his thoughts on the situation.

“We passed the first round, trying to get as many signatures as possible, and not thinking about if we’re the favourites or not. We’ll go forward with winning morale and we want this to translate into a lot of votes.

“Now it’s up to the second round, the campaign. I hope to be able to debate with the rest of the candidates. To those who voted for me, I say that I need them to make me president to bring back the joy to Barcelona.”

Source | Sport

Toni Freixa is next up with 2,821, while Emili Rosaud is also on the list with 2,510. A validation process will now take place and is due to be completed by Thursday.

It looks now to be a battle between Laporta and Font for the presidency, although there are lingering doubts over whether the elections will actually take place on January 24.

Reports have suggests the elections may have to be postponed if tighter restrictions are put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic