This Saturday, November 8th, Benfica members will vote again to choose the club’s president for the quadrennium 2025-2029, in a vote that forced a second round between Rui Costa and João Noronha Lopes.
In the space of two weeks, the ‘red’ partners return to the polls, this time with just two candidates, the most voted in the October 25th election, but without any of them managing to overcome the 50% vote barrier.
Out of the race were former president Luís Filipe Vieira (13.86%), João Diogo Manteigas (11.48%), Martim Mayer (2.10%) and Cristóvão Carvalho (0.18%), while Rui Costa (42.13%), current leader of the club, and Noronha Lopes (30.26%) continued to the second round.
Favoritism is on Rui Costa’s side, but it is important to understand the voting direction of the members who did not vote for any of those who go on to the second roundparticularly among supporters of Luís Filipe Vieira and João Diogo Manteigas.
The elections, which had a huge turnout of voters in the first round, with 86,297 members going to the polls – numbers far higher than the world record held by FC Barcelona (57,088, in 2010) -, can elect different lists in each body.
In the vote, Benfica members deposit four ballots in a ballot box, for the three corporate bodies (Management, Supervisory Board and Board of the General Assembly) and for the statutory body Remuneration Committee.
The second round will take place, again, with physical vote, between 08:30 and 22:00 on the mainland and Madeiraand with an adapted time window in the Azores and other locations abroad.
Lusa