Barcelona presidential candidate, Rousaud withdraws from the Race, leaving three other Candidates

After Emili Rousaud withdrew from the electoral process, three candidates were in the running to become president of Barcelona.

On Thursday, Rousaud confirmed that he is no longer in the frame to replace Josep Maria Bartomeu, who stood aside in October from the role.

The trio of candidates who are in the running to be elected President are Joan Laporta, Victor Font and Toni Freixa.

Laporta had 9,625 validated signatures, while Font and Freixa had 4,431 and 2,634 respectively in the validation process for an election that will take place on Sunday 24 January.

After proving unable to reach the threshold of 2,257 signatures, Jordi Farre, Xavier Vilajoana, Agusti Benedito, Luis Fernandez Ala and Pere Riera had previously been excluded from the race.

For the right to succeed Bartomeu, Rousaud had said he no longer wanted to be involved in a “dirty war”

It was a day of impressive integrity, Marca quoted him as saying, because, to my surprise, the majority vote was not to agree to enter another candidacy, because we can not tolerate the dirty war and we prefer to stay out.

“Our sporting and economic proposals were the best.”

Laporta is considered the overwhelming favorite to return to the position, having previously held the presidency for Barca during a golden age that produced four La Liga titles and two crowns in the Champions League.