“If in these conditions we pass the signatures, we will be heroes” is heard at the headquarters of Jordi Farré, a candidate for the Barça elections, where the signatures that are arriving in droppers are counted frantically to complete the 2,257 needed to pass the cut and become an official candidate.
What is happening at the Farré headquarters is not an isolated event. In most of the other pre-candidacies it happens exactly the same and each signature that arrives is celebrated as if it were a decisive goal. You live with the telephones, the weather map and the road information.
Many of the signatures collected in clubs throughout Catalonia are still in their localities of origin before the impossibility of taking cars and reaching Barcelona because of the snowfall caused by the storm Filomena.
Emili Rousaud celebrated on his Twitter account at noon on Saturday that they had reached 2,000 signatures “We have it within reach, but it takes one last effort”, wrote. Lluís Fernández Alà expressed himself in the same terms, requesting “a last effort from his supporters”.
At the headquarters of Jordi Farré the arrival of the candidate's father was celebrated, who appeared with three signatures that he had personally gone to look for. “I have crossed all of Barcelona to go to the homes of the members.”
The pre-candidacies of Joan Laporta and Víctor Font, who are the favorites, are not immune to this frenzy, although from their rivals it is taken for granted that they will overcome the cut with some ease.
For the rest, the thing will go from dozens of ballots and you have to see how many are valid. Farré fears “That there are many duplications, many people give the signature by commitment to more than one candidate, that is why it is important to have at least 200 signatures as a cushion to be able to play safe.”
All the applications agree that within 48 hours of the deadline for submitting the signatures, they are around 2,000 collected. A way to give a boost to those who still doubt and to maintain the tension.
From the majority of pre-candidacies, it is agreed that the first days of collection were a drama to coincide with the dates of Christmas. It was not until the first of January that the venues were animated.
The pandemic and the closure measures for catering establishments has also had an impact. Jordi Farré explains that “We were counting on many town bars and small towns where soccer social gatherings are usually held, to bring signatures, but being closed we have not been able to collect them there.”
Until Monday at five in the afternoon, all the pre-citizens have time to collect signatures in a frantic final sprint in which each ballot is worth its weight in gold.