Spanish Media: Florentino reelected Real Madrid president, riquelme exceeds 20% of votes

According to several Spanish media reports, preliminary surveys outside Real Madrid's Valdebebas Sports City suggest that Florentino Pérez is expected to defeat Enrique Riquelme in the Real Madrid presidential election and continue as president. This election saw a record-high participation rate, and Riquelme's vote share was higher than expected, significantly exceeding 20%.

According to preliminary surveys conducted by Marca, AS, and La Sexta at the entrance of Valdebebas Sports City, Florentino, who has served as Real Madrid's top executive for the past 17 years, will defeat Riquelme in this election. This is the first presidential election at Real Madrid in 20 years, and it has also become the club's highest-participation election in history. However, the young candidate Riquelme received more support than expected, with his vote share significantly exceeding 20%.The start of vote counting was delayed because, among the initially counted postal votes, 400 out of a total of 4,000 postal votes were challenged and invalidated due to formal issues.

This will be Florentino's third time winning the Real Madrid presidential election. He previously defeated Sanz twice in 2000 and 2004. This will also be his fourth time participating in an election with a competitor. In 1995, he lost to Mendoza. Apart from that, Florentino had not faced any opponents in his previous elections, smoothly assuming the position of the club's top executive.

At the sporting level, Florentino confirmed during his campaign the return of Mourinho and the signings of Konaté and Dumfries. Therefore, the Portuguese coach could make his debut in Valdebebas this week. In addition, Florentino is expected to make good on his statement from last Thursday and bid 150 million euros for "a player from a Champions League club" this Tuesday. It is understood that this player is Bayern Munich forward Michael Olise.

Valdebebas experienced a historic day. The weather was like mid-summer, and despite numerous logistical difficulties, especially traffic congestion in the Spanish capital due to a papal mass, a large number of members still came to vote. From early in the morning, Real Madrid fans successively entered the Sports City basketball arena. Many had not voted in 20 years, while others were participating for the first time. There were 60 polling tables in the basketball arena, with 70,000 registered voters.

Florentino arrived at polling table 2 at 9:57 AM to cast his vote, accompanied by his daughter Cuchi and one of the vice presidents, Fernández de Blas. Riquelme arrived at 10:50 AM. The young candidate received some applause and some boos upon his arrival, reflecting the escalating tension in the final days of the campaign.

Both were surrounded by a large crowd of fans when they left the polling station. For the next 4 hours, fans queued to take photos with both candidates. Madridismo had been waiting for this election for too long. After voting, Riquelme said: "After 20 years, we can finally vote again. This is not an ordinary election, but more a statement about the future direction of the club, with the core question being whether Real Madrid will be sold."

Vicente Boluda, who served as Real Madrid president in 2008, said: "Real Madrid needs stability now, and also financial support." His son is on Riquelme's board team.