Election Information

By: Corey | April 16th, 2009

Vincet Boluda, Lame Duck President

Real Madrid’s presidential elections will take place June 14th, which means that candidates can no officially declare they are up for election. Which means we will have a little more clarity as to who is actually going to step forward and run for the presidential seat. But it also means that Marca (ugh) and the rest of the Spanish dailies will be running wild headlines either supporting or condemning the ludicrous declarations all of the presidential candidates will be making in terms of signings. I swear that the day the presidential election doesnt turn in to a “mine is bigger then yours” contest with possible big name signings is the day I die peacefully.

Information on the presidential election from Real’s website:

Once the President and the Board of Directors propose 14 June as the date for the presidential election to the Electoral Board, the next step will be to summon the latter on Thursday at 12:00 pm for a meeting that should not be taken as to signify the start of the electoral process. The start of the latter will be decided in a Board meeting set at a future date, as established in the Statutes of Real Madrid.

This is the reson why we here present the most important aspects of the electoral process, regarding the bodies that take part in it, the requisites candidacies must meet, the steps of the process itself, absentee voting, guarantees, and the steps to be followed.

ELECTORAL BOARD
“The Eelectoral Board is in charge of preparing and developing the President’s and the Board of Directors’ electoral processes.” (Article 56 of the Real Madrid Statutes).

The Electoral Board must determine the start of the period in which candidacies may be presented and the dates in which voting may take place, all in accordance with the Statutes.

The last General Assembly determined the Electoral Board should be presided by D. Jose Maria Paz Casañe (Member no.84); that its Secretary should be D. Juan Raul Castellanos Tarrago (Member no.76,241); and that other Members should be D. Luis Alejandro Huerta Calvo (Member no.61,620), D. Guillermo Marcos Guerrero (Member no.69,485) and D. Lorenzo Alvarez Martin (Member no.73,135).

Substitute members of the Electoral Board are: D. Eugenio Teodoro Garcia Salvador (Member no.28), D. Alfredo Revuelta de la Puente (Member no.10,526), D. Angel Labrador Sanchez-Brunete (Member no.26,978), D. Mario Cifuentes Jimenez (Member no.30,264) and D. Florencio Vicente Martin (Member no.46,347).

CALL FOR ELECTIONS
The start of the electoral process will be a consequence of the implementation of Article 38 of the Statutes: “The call for elections to the Presidency and the Board of Directors will take place in the following situations.” Section B of the Article states: “The President will decide after consulting with the Board of Directors.”

Once the decsion has been made, the President will let the Electoral Board know, in order for it to work accordingly following the Club’s Statutes.

“The President and his Board will continue in office until the new President takes up his new office.” (Article 39)

DEADLINES AND PROCEEDINGS
Once the decision has been announced, the Electoral Board will have to implement Section A of Article 40, which explains the proceedings, requisites and initial deadlines. “Within the two days following the fact that motivates the necessity for an election to the Presidency and Board of Directors to take place, the Electoral Board will decide upon the start of the electoral process within ten days -starting from when the former is announced- so that candidacies may be presented. Its decision should be announced on the announcements board at headquarters, as well as in at least two Madrid-based newspapers.”

REQUISITES TO BECOME A CANDIDATE TO THE PRESIDENCY OR THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Section B of Article 40 states the requirements candidates must meet.

“1.- Must be Spanish.
2.- Must be of legal age and able to work.
3.- Must be aware of the need to meet his or her social duties.
4.- Must be a club Member of ten or more uninterrupted years in order to become President, and five uninterrupted years to become a Member of the Board of Directors.
5.- Must not be subject to sanctions that may prevent him or her from taking on managerial duties.
6.- Must not have managerial duties at other football clubs, or be an active player, referee, coach or member of a technical staff of a football club upon presenting his or her candidacy.
7.- Must provide a bank guarantee that meets the terms and conditions established by the 10/1990 Law and other applicable dispositions.”

Candidacies to the Presidency must meet the requisites demanded in Section C of Article 40. Candidates must appear before the Board of Directors at the Club within the ten established days and deposit double copies of documents meeting the following requirements:

“1.- The listing of the candidate to become President and at least nine other members.
2.- Candidates must be subscribed to them by signing them with a legitimate signature and formally manifesting their acceptance of the proposition.
3.- Must be accompanied by a bank guarantee, meeting the terms, conditions and sum established in the 10/1990 Law and other applicable dispositions.”

BANK GUARANTEE
According to the Statutes, Candidacies must present a bank guarantee, the sum of which has been established at 57,389,000€ (15% of the 2008/09 budget).

EXAMINATION OF CANDIDACIES
Section D of Article 40 says: “The Electoral Board will examine and either announce or reject a candidacy no later than the day it has been presented. Candidacies may appeal the decision to the Board within the following two days. The Electoral Board will then make a final decision within the two days following the appeal.”

IN THE CASE OF THERE BEING ONLY ONE VALID CANDIDACY
“In the case of there being only one valid Candidacy, its members will be proclaimed on the spot as the new Members of the Board of Directors.”

TWO OR MORE VALID CANDIDACIES. VOTES
In the case of there being two ore more valid candidacies, the Electoral Board will summon Club Members to vote, as stated in Article 41: “Within one working day following the proclamation of the last candidacy, the Electoral Board will announce when voting will take place, which should be within the following 15 days.”

“The call should be announced on the Club’s announcement board and in at least two Madrid-based newspapers, stating the date, place and time for the election, as well as the valid candidacies.”

ELECTORS
According to Article 42, “the electors will be Real Madrid’s club Members with a right to vote.” The census will comprise 70,739 Members (175 of whom are overseas) by 14 June, date in which voting will likely take place. These voting Members meet the following requisites: they are of legal age, they have paid their club dues, and they have been club Members for at least one year.

ABSENTEE VOTING
Following the agreement reached in the 29 March General Assembly, the absentee voting system will be the same as that of the General Electoral Law used in the Spanish General Election.

Electors will only be able to vote through the Spanish Postal System (Sociedad Estatal de Correos y Telegrafos).

“Those interested in absentee voting must request that the Electoral Board provide them with a certificate of inscription in the census and/or the necessary documents needed to vote by mail before the tenth day prior to the election. This petition may be made through the channels Real Madrid will make available to them, including Post Offices that will send the requests to the Electoral Board.

Electors will be able to use their right to vote once they receive the needed documents through the post.

Envelopes containing votes will be admitted in any post office. They must be certified, but no expenses will be charged. They must be presented within the opening hours of the Post Office and four days before the election.

Upon placing a vote in a Post Office, electors must show the original certificate that allows them to vote by mail, as well as their ID Card, passport or driver’s license. This means voters must send their votes personally. Photocopies of the aforementioned documents will not be accepted.

Once the documentation has been accepted, the Post Office clerk must stamp the date on the certified letter and introduce it in a new and larger envelope with the full name of the voter. This envelope will also be stamped and sent to the Electoral Board.

The Spanish Postal System will preserve these envelopes until the election. They will then be presented to an Electoral Desk -assigned by Real Madrid- in the manner and at the time determined by the Club’s Electoral Board.”

A deluge of information from the official site, but all relevant. I am personally not a member of Real Madrid, and I cannot run for president because I am not Spanish, but I was thinking of holding a mock election in a few weeks once we get definitive candidate. I personally cannot wait for the elections to draw nearer, because whil Vincent Boluda has been the ideal president except for his Liverpool declarations, he is still a lame duck that has no intention of doing anything.

I will complimnet him and the board on picking an appropriate date for the elections, which leaves about three weeks for a president to nail down any negotiations before the transfer window officially begins. What I am not looking forward, like I said before, is the fact that there will be wild declarations from several candidates as to who they will sign etc. etc. That should not win an election, but it does. So is the nature of the beast. Sound off on who and why you want to be the next Real Madrid president!

Also, I will have a Huelva preview up towards the end of the day. Gamtime is 16:00 GMT, 4:00pm eastern time on Saturday.