Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has an iron grip on power at the Santiago Bernabeu, and even as he ages, he shows no signs of letting go. This week he initiated the process of running for a fifth consecutive term at the summit.
This week he called a board meeting for Thursday, January 9, at which he will call elections, the club announced in a short statement. Perez won unopposed in the last four elections after replacing Ramon Calderon in 2009. The elections are held every four years and Perez will be 82 years old at the end of a sixth term, but there are few signs of competitors being involved.
That's partly due to the highly prohibitive regulations Perez put in place in 2012, making it very difficult to challenge him. Anyone wishing to become president must have been a member for the past twenty years, be Spanish and be able to personally guarantee 15% of the club's budget, unlike for example Athletic Club and Barcelona where external funders may be involved. . For Real Madrid, that amounts to €156 million in personal resources available in this election cycle.
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