Queues and a lot of voting influx in Barcelona and normality in the rest of Barça’s electoral headquarters

At 9:00 a.m. this Sunday, March 15, the five electoral headquarters opened on this election day at FC Barcelona, ​​to elect the new president and Board of Directors of the club, with quite a turnout, queues that grew longer during the morning and some disorder on a day marked by the duality of the only two proposals and by the 4:15 p.m. match between Barça and Sevilla.

A total of 122 voting stations spread throughout the territory – 110 in Barcelona, ​​5 in Girona, 4 in Tarragona, 2 in Lleida and 1 in Andorra – began to receive members from 9:00 a.m., following the times recommended by the club, on a day whose voting will end at 9:00 p.m.

Unlike the last elections in 2021, when voting by mail was allowed to alleviate in-person queues due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this time there was a large influx of members to the fixed electoral headquarters, especially the one in Barcelona, ​​located in a huge tent next to the Palau Blaugrana and within the facilities of a Spotify Camp Nou that, under construction, acted as a stopper in some points.

Because around 1:00 p.m., before the second update of the voting data, many people gathered in the voting tent. Both members to be able to vote and well-known people and VIPs, from former presidents of the Generalitat like Jordi Pujol or Artur Mas, to former Blaugrana president like Joan Gaspart – the earliest riser was Josep Maria Bartomeu, who avoided the queues and crowds before 10 in the morning – and legends, inside or outside the club, like Juan Carlos Navarro, Sergio Busquets or Xavi Hernández.

And at that moment, the bridge that connects the voting area with the exit to the street along Arístides Maillol, near the Auditori 1899, was a blockage. It was difficult to move, just like inside a voting area where the public address system kept asking for quick evacuation after voting. Especially in the area where there were the two tables reserved for the votes of personalities, with the press acting as a magnet for those who wanted to see which famous person voted.

A host of personalities passed through that point before 1:30 p.m., in addition to Víctor Font who at 12:22 p.m. was able to exercise his right to vote and be the earliest candidate, and Joan Laporta who voted at 1:23 p.m. – an hour later -. To name a few; Danny Cruyff (widow of Johan Cruyff), Carles Rexach, the footballers Aitana Bonmatí, Héctor Fort or Laia Aleixandri, the Minister of Culture Ernest Urtasun, the basketball players Youssoupha Fall and Kevin Punter together with their coach, Xavi Pascual, as well as the acting president, Rafa Yuste.