Madrid, June 7 (EFE).- Businessman Enrique Riquelme, candidate for the presidency of Real Madrid, stated this Sunday that he is committed to fulfilling the promises he made during the campaign and highlighted the importance of the elections, which he considered “not a normal election, but a referendum” in which the sale of a part of the club to the detriment of the members is at stake.
Riquelme deposited his ballot in the basketball pavilion of the Real Madrid sports city at around 11:00 am to the applause of members who accompanied him to the ballot box and some isolated insults.
“President,” chanted one of the members who applauded the Alicante businessman, while another shouted “liar.”
The candidate, 37 years old and with membership number 41,736, voted at table 33, where he arrived accompanied by his wife, Malén Guirado, and some of the members of his board of directors.
Riquelme was late at the time he had planned to vote because he stopped to greet and take photos with some members, as he also repeated after voting an hour after his rival at the polls, Florentino Pérez.
“After twenty years you can vote. The commitment I had with all the members of Real Madrid was that if we showed up it was to try to stop the sale of the club as the first red line and then, create a professional, serious and exciting project. We have more than fulfilled that promise,” Riquelme congratulated himself.
The businessman from Alicante guaranteed the partners that the promises he made in the campaign “will be fulfilled”, such as the signings of the Norwegian Erlig Haaland and the Spanish Rodri Hernández, as well as trying to convince the German coach Jürgen Klopp to take over the bench.
Riquelme highlighted the importance of the votes: “If we did not take this step, the club was for sale. This today is not only a normal election after twenty years, it is probably the referendum.”
“If today the member of Real Madrid did not get to vote, this would probably have become the last elections for Real Madrid, at least as we know it today. In the social, sporting and institutional and financial aspects we need transparency,” he continued.
He reiterated his concern about the club’s financial situation, which is why he considered a change urgent to “build the future.”
“There are many things to change: transparency, democracy, governance within the club… If we manage today for members to be able to evaluate and vote on what has been done in two weeks, imagine what we can do in the coming months,” said Riquelme. EFE
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