The president of SL Benfica, Rui Costa.
Although the count is not yet closed, it is unlikely that Rui Costa, who is ahead, will achieve a majority. A second round with Noronha Lopes is anticipated.
The president of the Board of the General Assembly (MAG) of Benfica said today that “it is likely” the holding a second round of the elections for the four-year period 2025-2029 between the lists headed by Rui Costa and João Noronha Lopes.
“It is likely that there is a second roundbetween List G and List F”, led, respectively, by Rui Costa, current president of the club, and João Noronha Lopes, said José Pereira da Costa, in the press room at Estádio da Luz, in Lisbon, which was the epicenter of the electoral act.
The MAG leader pointed out that “during today’s afternoon, certainly”, there will be final results known of the elections for the governing bodies, which took place between 08:30 and 22:00 on Saturday, justifying the delay with the fact that the counting process was being done entirely manually.
“In view of the refusal, or non-acceptance, of electronic voting, the entire process was manual. The voting process ended up being almost vote by vote and the insertion of data in the minutes and on the system sheets was also done by hand”, he explained, at a time when results were being calculated in 105 of the 108 polling stations.
List G leads the vote for the Board, with 45.56%, substantially ahead of List F, which has so far collected 26.59%, with José Pereira da Costa warning of the “great complexity” of the vote counting process.
If no candidate receives more than 50% of the votes in the election, a second round will be held between the two most voted candidates, on November 8.
“The last vote ended up being counted in the second section of Lisbon very close to 10:00 in the morning and the last vote in the first section of Lisbon was close to 08:30 in the morning. Therefore, there was logistical pressure grande in both sections of Lisbon”, he highlighted.
The elections for Benfica’s governing bodies for the four-year period 2025-2029, held on Saturday, had the participation of 85,422 membersmore than half of those who were eligible to vote (160,182) and a record worldwide.
Rui Costa, current president and leader of List G, Martim Mayer (B), João Diogo Manteigas (C), Cristóvão Carvalho (D), previous president Luís Filipe Vieira (E) and João Noronha Lopes (F) were the candidates for the leadership of Benfica, while João Ferreira Leite headed List A, solely a candidate for the Board of the General Assembly.
Despite the universe of more than 400,000 members, only members with more than one year of membership in the club and who had the quotas regularized up to 48 hours before of the electoral act.
The number of members’ votes increases depending on seniority: 46,421 members were entitled to three votes, 30,013 to 10 votes, 56,703 to 20 votes and 27,045 to 50 votes, according to the electoral register.
