Former Barcelona presidential candidate Agustí Benedito said that he has 7,278 signatures for his "vote of no confidence against the Barcelona board," according to Samuel Marsden of ESPN.com. However, "confusion surrounds how long he has to collect the 16,570 that are needed to trigger a referendum." On Wednesday, Barcelona spokesperson Josep Vives said that the deadline was Sept. 27, but Benedito has said that it is Oct. 2. Benedito has 14 working days to gather the signatures of 15% of the club's members from the day he collected the ballot papers from the club's offices, last Friday. The disagreement over the deadline "focuses over what constitutes a working day, with Barcelona saying Saturdays count and Benedito arguing that they do not." Benedito said, "On Oct. 2, Barça will accept the 17,000 or 18,000 signatures that we will deliver. I have no doubts. We are totally convinced that Saturdays are not working days -- our legal team and third party legal teams have recognized as much. Hopefully, the board present their resignation before Nov. 1. I think they are worried, they don't have any direction, you can tell with [President Josep Maria] Bartomeu. That's why they've created so many obstacles." If Benedito does reach 16,570 signatures, a total of 66.6% of voters "would need to go against the board in a referendum for an election to be called" (ESPN.com, 9/14).
