Josep Maria Bartomeu re-elected as FC Barcelona President

 

Josep Maria Bartomeu(52) was re-elected as president of European and Spanish champions Barcelona after seeing off rival Joan Laporta

Josep Maria Bartomeu, 52, polled 25,823 votes (54.63%) with Laporta, a former president, winning 15,615 votes (33.03%).

Other contenders were businessman Agusti Benedito 3,386 votes (7.16%) and lawyer Toni Freixa with 1,750 (3.70%)

With 47,720 votes counted, the election had the third highest turnout in Barcelona history -- only 2010 with 57,088 votes and 2003 with 51,618 have been greater.

Josep Maria Bartomeu, who took over as president early last year after his predecessor Sandro Rosell stepped down, will lead Barcelona for the next six years

Polls opened at 9am local time (0700 GMT) with almost 110,000 members entitled to vote.

FC Barcelona, just like their great rivals Real Madrid but in contrast to other leading European clubs, are owned by their members -- of whom there are more than 150,000 in total -- and elections are usually held every six years.