Barcelona SC and election ‘antics’ and ‘oddities’: president less than 24 hours, elections for one candidate, and ballot boxes as decoration

Presidents who do not win elections. The yellow corporate mass that doesn’t vote. The Electoral Court of Barcelona SC which in 2005 allowed a presidential candidate to compete in club elections without living in Ecuador. Surreal elections for one candidate.

Also a president who lasted less than 24 hours. The ordinary judiciary and the chief state controller intervened in the shipyard’s elections. The Ministry of Sports unable to interpret the Law on Sports, on the eve of the club elections. Mass resignations of the members of the Canary Board of Directors to avoid assuming the presidency. And more rarities. All of them depict institutional disorder.

This Wednesday it was confirmed that Antonio Alvarez Henriques will – no pun intended – succeed Carlos Alfaro Moreno as Barcelona’s president. The yellow electoral court has officially made its final decision. He declared the list led by Alvarez the winner because it was the only one qualified. The one led by Rafal Verduga Regalado was already out of the fight.

Attacks and disqualifications

But before that, Alvarez was also disqualified. However, the judge accepted the request for protection filed by the partner Carlos Nahón, which allowed the inclusion of the brother of the mayor of Guayaquil, Aquiles Alvarez, on the list. Without him being responsible for how the events unfolded, Alvarez will take over the leadership of Barcelona SC without receiving a single vote from the members. But so far in the new millennium, it is not the first time that the Toreadors will have a president who did not win the polls.

In Barcelona SC, the 2023 selection process began with a certain normality, but the order was not complete. There were conflicts and personal attacks between Verduga, who resigned as acting director, and her boss, Carlos Alfaro Moreno. A similar event occurred when Alfaro Moreno was running for an expiring term: he resigned as vice president while José Francisco Cevallos was in charge. Thus began a stormy campaign that ended with the alienation of former comrades.

First, Verduga ran for president, and after a long period of picking daisies, Alfaro Moreno announced his re-election last October 21. However, the Electoral Court of Barcelona SC, based on endless legal arguments, did not accept either of the two applications. Alfaro Moreno accepted the decision. Thus, Antonio Alvarez, initially a candidate for vice president on the list of the ruling party of the Canary Islands, finally became a candidate for the highest dignity. Verduga did not give up and moved towards ordinary justice, but he did not succeed. Election-time oddities are nothing new at Barcelona SC.

Isidro Romero, ‘on remote control’

On February 13, 2006, Isidro Romero Carbo from Spain, where he remotely managed Barcelona SC, resigned. He abandoned ship after Emelec’s 3-0 win at Monumental, 24 hours before he resigned. Romero was president for a year and 24 days (from January 20, 2005) and left the team without fulfilling the promise made during the campaign: to return Barcelona to star positions and make them national champions.

Surprisingly, although he was the only candidate because José Vicente’s list was disqualified, Barcelona SC held the election. Romero ‘won’ on January 20, 2005 with 494 votes out of a possible 1,200 voting members.

On February 14, 2006, there was a change in leadership, without the votes of the corporate masses. As a result of the riots caused by Romero, the bullfighting committee decided that Galo Roggiero Rolando – the patriarch of Barcelona SC – would be the new president. Roggiero had to take over due to Vice President Carlos Muñoz Insua’s refusal to succeed Romero. Roggiero was the sports vice president and was president until the end of 2007.

Record: less than 24 hours

More presidents without setting up a poll for Barcelona SC? On December 23, 2010, a record was broken: Alfonso Harb Viteri became Barcelona’s third coach in 24 hours, taking over the position following the surprise resignation of Juan Carlos Estrada. The surgeon from Guayaquil briefly replaced Eduardo Maruri, who resigned on Wednesday, December 22 of that year.

Harb’s appointment came after an extraordinary meeting of the board of directors, called before the departure of Estrada, who described his resignation hours before in an interview with Radio City, as “someone qualified for that (chairing the club) and for other things. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have accepted.” In a session that lasted more than two hours, the management board of the Canary Islands accepted Estrada’s resignation and appointed Harb.

Andrés Portalupi, the first vice president, did not succeed Maruri because he left the same day he resigned; Second Vice President Estrada took his place, and when he suddenly left, his successor was supposed to be Luis Ribadeneira, but he became the fourth resignation of the administration.

As in Emelec

“Therefore, according to the regulations and the succession, the position corresponds to the second vice-president of the club, Alfonso Harbo Viteri, who accepted this dignity with honor,” said the secretary of the bullfighting team, Miguel Ángel Loor, “who did not explain how he came to be the vice-president The new president has announced that he will call early elections for July 2011,” says the EL UNIVERSO note.

In order to elect its new president, Barcelona SC was infected with the disease that institutionally hurt Emelec in the last election process. Ten months late, the blue elections were finally held in November 2022. The irregularities arose because several members of one of the registered lists stubbornly filed countless petitions for protection before the regular judicial system. They caused disorder and allowed people and institutions outside Emelec to interfere in the elections. List of rebels lost in large numbers. (D)