This Saturday’s elections for the presidency of Benfica are very competitive. The polls opened at 8:30 am and, two hours later, 7,572 club members had already voted. It is expected that the record of 40,085 voters will be broken in the 2021 election, with a count expected in the early hours of the morning.
“It allows us to foresee a day of great voting and a day of celebration for Benfica citizenship”, said José Pereira da Costa, president of the Board of the General Assembly.
Despite a universe of more than 400,000 members, only members with more than a year of membership in the club and those whose dues are regularized up to 48 hours prior to the election are eligible to vote, which represents 160,182 members.
At Benfica, the number of votes from members increases depending on seniority in membership, with, according to the electoral register, 46,421 members having three votes, 30,013 with 10 votes, 56,703 with 20 votes and 27,045 with 50 votes.
When voting, members will deposit four ballots in a ballot box, voting for the Board of Directors, Board of the General Assembly and Supervisory Board (corporate bodies) and for the Remuneration Committee (statutory body).
In the race for leadership for the 2025-2029 four-year period, the lists are previously defined, with the candidates being Martim Mayer (List B), João Diogo Manteigas (C), Cristóvão Carvalho (D), Luís Filipe Vieira (E), João Noronha Lopes (F) and Rui Costa (G).
Lawyer João Ferreira Leite leads a single list (A) to the General Assembly.