Font Accuses Laporta of Copying Real Madrid's 'No Elections, No Participation' Model
Víctor Font hits out at Joan Laporta over broken promises on postal voting ahead of Barcelona's 2026 elections, warning thousands of members could be disenfranchised.
Víctor Font is not happy, and he’s making sure everyone knows about it. The Barcelona pre-candidate held a press conference this week to tear into Joan Laporta over the club’s failure to introduce remote voting ahead of the 2026 elections.
What’s the row actually about?
Font’s beef is pretty straightforward: Laporta apparently promised that telematic (online/postal) voting would be up and running in time for the next presidential election. It hasn’t happened. Font says that means thousands of socis are going to be left out in the cold when voting day comes around.
His sharpest line? That Laporta is essentially copying the Real Madrid model — a club famously run as more of a one-man show with minimal democratic participation from its membership. Coming from a Barcelona pre-candidate, that’s about as cutting as it gets.
The numbers behind the argument
Font laid out why this actually matters in practical terms:
- Around 15,000 Barcelona members live outside Catalonia — they’d have to travel back just to cast a vote
- Even members within Catalonia face issues, with voting points only in Andorra, Girona, Lleida, Tarragona and the Camp Nou
- That’s a lot of ground to cover for a lot of people, especially older or less mobile members
It’s not a trivial complaint. If you’re a Barça member living in Madrid, Seville or London, you’re basically being told your vote doesn’t count unless you can afford a trip back.
Font’s pitch
This is obviously political — Font is positioning himself as the candidate who actually listens to the membership. His argument is that a bigger turnout means a stronger, more legitimate club. He’s framing participation not just as a nice-to-have but as fundamental to what separates Barça from its rivals.
The dig at Madrid is deliberate, mind. Florentino Pérez runs the Bernabéu like it’s his personal fiefdom, and the idea that Laporta is drifting in that direction will sting plenty of culés.
The bigger picture
Barça’s 2026 elections are shaping up to be a proper battle, and the early skirmishes are already getting tasty. Laporta’s camp hasn’t responded publicly to Font’s accusations, but the pressure is building. If thousands of members genuinely can’t vote, that’s a legitimacy problem for whoever wins — including Laporta if he stands again.
Font clearly fancies his chances of making this a central issue. Whether it lands with the wider fanbase or just the politically engaged socis remains to be seen, but he’s not wrong that promising something and then not delivering it is a bit of a liberty.