Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon will resign today following allegations that he rigged voting at the club’s annual general assembly last month at which the club’s accounts for 2008 and 2009 were approved, according to reports in the Spanish press.
Spanish newspaper Marca had reported on Tuesday that Calderon stacked the December 7th general assembly with fake delegates to get the accounts and electoral assembly members approved by a slim margin.
Calderon will be replaced by the club’s current vice president Vicente Bolunda, according to radio station Onda Cero. Members of Real’s board had demanded that Calderon step down “urgently”, according to Thursday's online edition of newspaper El Mundo.
As late as Wednesday Calderon had rejected calls for his resignation, saying he had done nothing wrong. “Quitting is for cowards. Leaving would not fix anything, it would leave a void and force the club to call elections,” he told a news conference. Calderon had also announced he had fired two of his closest aides over the affair.
Calderon’s current four-year term as president was to expire in 2010. This week he had told a Spanish radio station that he did not plan to seek re-election.
