How the voting went at the 2019 Assembly

Sunday was a busy day at the Palau Blaugrana, where hundreds of FC Barcelona member delegates were in attendance for the Club’s annual General Assembly.

After FC Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu opened the annual Assembly with a speech extolling Barça as a “more successful, more economically and financially wealthy, more innovative and more committed” Club than ever before, the delegates on hand listened to and voted on various presentations, including last season’s financial report and this season’s budget outlook.

Beyond economics, the Delegates also voted on other issues affecting the Club, like a proposal for electronic voting in future elections and a proposal to revoke several medals and honorary distinctions given to General Francisco Franco in the 1950’s and 1970’s.

Here is a look at what was approved at the 2019 General Assembly of Member Delegates:

2018-19 FISCAL YEAR AND 2019-20 BUDGET

Like in previous years, the president’s speech was immediately followed by the two main economic presentations. Both were approved.

VOTE COUNT: 2018-19 fiscal year report
532 yea
90 nay
45 blank

VOTE COUNT: 2019-20 budget
570 yea
60 nay
44 blank

MEDALS GIVEN TO FRANCISCO FRANCO

Item Four in the Order of the Day asked the Assembly to ratify an agreement reached by the Board of Directors on February 11, 2019 to revoke medals given to General Francisco Franco in 1951, 1971, and 1974, as well as all honorary distinctions related to them.

The Board had made the decision with the firm commitment to review the case through a rigorous historical and documentary analysis. In recent years, the formal revocation of the medals has been an issue for which that many Club members have expressed support through various Club channels. And on Sunday, it was approved:

VOTE COUNT: Franco medals
671 yea
2 nay
7 blank

ELECTRONIC VOTING

One item that was not approved Sunday, however, was the proposal by Club member Víctor Font to amend the Club's statutes to allow for electronic voting in future elections. To pass, the measure would have required approval by two-thirds of Member Delegates present at the Assembly.

The Board has supported the idea of electronic voting, but has maintained that it should only be implemented when the proper safeguards could be guaranteed in order to ensure its integrity. In the end, the proposal came up short, garnering just 59.9% of the vote.

VOTE COUNT: Electronic voting
359 yea
173 nay
67 blank