Laporta wins Barça presidential elections with 66% of vote, reports TV3 | OneFootball

Joan Laporta will serve as Barcelona president until 2031, having extended his second term with election victory on Sunday with 66% of the vote, according to TV3’s exit poll.

Tens of thousands of fans headed to polling stations across Catalunya on Sunday for a highly-anticipated election, in which Laporta faced competition from Victor Font, who used his opponent’s fractured relationship with Lionel Messi as a key campaign point.

Laporta, who served as Barça president from 2003-2010 before being re-elected in 2021, insisted throughout his campaign that he is the only man capable of ensuring the club’s continued on-pitch progression and warned that should Font be elected, Barcelona’s finances would be at risk of returning to a treacherous state.

He was seen celebrating with members of the first-team squad, many of whom voted following Sunday’s 5-2 win against Sevilla, with SPORT reporting with more than an hour of voting remaining that the 63-year-old was so confident of victory that he booked a celebratory dinner at a local restaurant.

The official vote counting started when voting stations closed at 20:00 GMT, though the winning margin indicated by TV3’s poll indicates that a Laporta victory is almost certain.