Speaking with Spanish publicationSPORT, Ciria said: "We had already planned that Laporta was going to take advantage of any opportunistic moment to call the elections. We understand that the statutes provided for it, but the normal thing was to do it with the season over and with the different teams fighting for the titles not seen in this noise."
It's been rumoured that Laporta decided to call the election for the earliest possible window with support for the 63-year-old currently at its highest. Barcelona sit top of La Liga, recently beat rivals Real Madrid in the Supercopa de Espana final, and are expected to secure a spot in the last 16 of the Champions League when they welcome Copenhagen to Spotify Camp Nou next week.
"It is obvious that these elections are called when it suits Laporta," Victor Fort added. "He doesn’t care about holding elections in the middle of a Champions League tie. But we were already expecting it, we are not surprised. We are prepared. These are very important elections for the future of Barca. The time begins to return Barca to the members.
"Of course, if March 15 finally coincides with a match against Sevilla, we demand that on that day the match be exclusively for members and that tickets are at the minimum cost. Participation must be encouraged and those who do not have season tickets cannot be discriminated against."
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