BARCELONA: Barcelona named Carles Tusquets as their acting president on Wednesday, a day after Josep Maria Bartomeu resigned in order to avoid facing a vote of no confidence.

Barca said in a statement that Tusquets, the chairman of the club’s economic commission, would lead the acting board of directors, comprising seven other people, until a new president and board is elected.

The acting board has the same functions as an executive board but is limited to only making decisions “that are necessary and fundamental to carrying out the club’s normal activities and protecting its interests”, said the statement.

The board’s main objective is to organise elections within the next three months, meaning the next one must be held before the initial date of March 2021 which Bartomeu had set in August.

Seven people have announced their intention to run for president, including Joan Laporta, who led the club between 2003 and 2010 and oversaw two Champions League title wins, and Victor Font.

Bartomeu became Barca president after Sandro Rosell’s resignation in 2014 and comfortably won a 2015 election soon after the team won a treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League.

More than 20,000 members signed a motion of censure to force the vote of no confidence against Bartomeu after Lionel Messi announced his intention to leave the club in August before deciding to stay.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2020