Madrid - Joan Laporta has narrowly escaped being humiliatingly thrown out as president of FC Barcelona. Laporta will continue as Barca chief until 2010, but the results of a referendum late Sunday on a no-confidence motion against him have been a moral defeat and have left him looking like a "lame duck" president.
Thirty-nine per cent of Barca's 118,528 members (39,389) turned out to vote at the Camp Nou, keeping alive the tradition of Barca being the most democratic club in the world.
A total of 23,870 (60.6 per cent) voted in favour of the no-confidence motion, brought against Laporta by lawyer-member Oriol Girlat.
Only 14,871 (37.75 per cent) of votes were against the motion and in favour of Laporta.
The motion needed 66.6 per cent support in order to force Laporta to resign, which was never going to be easy for Giralt to obtain.
Girlat brought the motion against Laporta three months ago, as Frank Rijkaard's team collapsed on the field, accusing the president of dishonesty, incompetence and arrogance.
Upon hearing the results, Giralt said that "if I were president, I would resign now", pointing out that less than one in 10 of members had bothered to turn out and vote in his defence.
Laporta, looking shaken but relieved by the results, said that "we will complete our mandate." He admitted that it had been "a protest vote" and a "wake-up call", and promised to "work for harmony" - easier said than done after Sunday.
Ferran Soriano, one of Laporta's vice-presidents, commented that "more than 80 per cent of members could not be bothered to turn out and vote for this motion."
The real winner of Sunday's referendum could well turn out to be not Girlat but Sandro Rosell.
Rosell is very popular at the Catalan giants for having - as one of Laporta's vice-presidents between 2003 and 2005 - put together the team which, under Frank Rijkaard, won two Spanish leagues and one Champions League.
He resigned in 2005 after a bitter dispute with Laporta, a former close friend turned enemy.
Rosell supported Girlat's no-confidence motion and has already declared himself to be a candidate in the 2010 elections.
The vote was also bad news for new Barca coach Josep Guardiola, who will now have to work within the context of a clearly divided club.
Guardiola, just 37 and with little coaching experience, wisely sat on the fence during the referendum campaign. His task is to bring back success after two trophy-less years - and thus end Real Madrid's domestic domination.
