Barcelona postpone presidential election as January 24 polling date is pushed back by coronavirus pandemic

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The Catalan giants will not be putting a new board of directors in place any time soon, with plans at Camp Nou having to be revised

Barcelona have been forced to postpone their presidential elections, which had been due to take place on January 24.

Amid ongoing public health concerns in the coronavirus pandemic, plans at Camp Nou are having to be revised.

No new date has been set for the eagerly anticipated vote, but the Catalan government have been called upon to clear the way for the poll to take place.

Joan Laporta, Victor Font and Toni Freixa are the final three candidates left in the running to take control of the Liga giants, with former president Laporta strong favourite to return to office.

Barca revealed in a statement on the club’s official website: “This Friday, January 15, the Catalan Government and FC Barcelona have held a virtual working meeting to address the holding of the elections for President and Board of Directors of the sports entity in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“In the course of the meeting, the Government has conveyed to the club that the current epidemiological situation does not make it possible to authorise the movement outside the municipality to members who do not have a polling station in their municipality on January 24, given the high mobility this would entail.

“For its part, the club has stated the impossibility of holding elections on the scheduled date due to mobility restrictions decreed by the Catalan Government in the current context of pandemic, which is why the date of the elections must be delayed.

“In this sense, the club has asked the Catalan Government to evaluate the possibility of modifying the current sports legislation in order to enable voting by post on the new date of the elections, a request that the Government has undertaken to study."

Barca are eager to get a successor to the ousted Josep Maria Bartomeu in place, with the future of Lionel Messi – who continues to run his contract down – one of several issues that will need to be addressed by the incoming president.

Completing a deal for Manchester City defender Eric Garcia is also on the to-do list, with the 20-year-old understood to have agreed terms on a transfer that will take him back to his roots.

2021-01-15 18:00:04

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