Barcelona president survives confidence vote – exit poll

FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta survived a confidence vote held Sunday that was brought against him by a supporter who was angered by the Spanish club's second straight season without any major title, according to an exit poll.

Less than half of all Barcelona supporters who cast ballots, 38.9 percent, voted to keep the 45-year-old at the helm of the club while 59.6 percent voted against him staying on, the poll prepared for TV3 and Catalunya Radio found.

To be successful, the vote against Laporta needed to have the support of over two-thirds of voters with a minimum turnout of 10 percent of the 118,528 club members entitled to take part.

If confirmed the result means Laporta and his team will be able to continue at the helm of the club until their current term expires on June 30, 2010.

Lawyer Oriol Giralt collected over 9,000 votes from fellow club members to force Barcelona to hold the vote after the Catalan side ended the season in third place, meaning it missed out on automatic qualification for the Champions League.

Under Laporta, who has headed Barcelona since 2003 and was re-elected in 2006, the club won back-to-back league titles and the Champions League but he has grown increasingly unpopular with supporters due to the recent drought in silverware.

Laporta responded to the club's third-place finish by replacing Frank Rijkaard as the club's manager with reserve team manager Josep Guardiola.

Guardiola quickly announced that he was not counting on the club's stars Deco, Ronaldinho and Eto'o for next season as he seeks to revive the team.

To be eligible to vote supporters had to be of legal age, been members of the club for more than a year and their membership must have been up to date.