Bartomeu's Impeachment Petition From The Chair Of The Barcelona President Verified

JAKARTA - The commission for verifying the petition for filing a motion of no confidence against the president of Barcelona, Josep Maria Bartomeu, stated that the number of signatures of support had met the threshold for taking such action.

The petition initiated by a consortium of Barcelona fans and presidential candidate "Mes que una mocio" (More than motion) last September said it had garnered 20,687 signatures in support.

Of these, the verification commission stated 19,380 signatures were valid, 1,088 signatures were invalid and 219 were called "doubtful", as reported by Antara, Friday, October 9.

Thus, the number of valid signatures has exceeded the threshold of 16,520 votes required to activate a no-confidence vote against Bartomeu.

The commission said it would hold a follow-up meeting on Friday local time to determine the next steps in the no-confidence motion process.

Local media reported that Barcelona has asked the civilian guards to help carry out an investigation into the alleged falsification of signatures in a campaign of no-confidence motion to Bartomeu.

According to a Reuters report, an internal Barcelona source confirmed that the verification commission did communicate with the authorities, but had no further information regarding the report released by radio station Cadena Ser and the daily La Vanguardia.

The rain of criticism and pressure to impeach Bartomeu was triggered by Lionel Messi's attitude, who applied for a transfer in August after Barcelona were humiliated by Bayern Munich 2-8 in the Champions League quarter-finals.

Supporters cited unclear sporting ambitions and financial mismanagement as the main reasons they wanted a change in club management.