Rui Fontes won this Friday Maritimo presidential election with 65% of the vote, beating Carlos Pereira, President of the past 24 years.
List A received 65% of the vote (17,629), surpassing List B, led by the current Maritime President, who scored 35% (9,464). Rui Fontes, 68, was elected for a four-year period 2021-2025. After holding this post from 1988 to 1997, he was succeeded by the president of the club, it was Carlos Pereira, who led the Madeira emblem for the last 24 years. …
“Maritimu is reborn, Maritimu is alive. Now we have a very difficult path ahead of us, it will not be easy, but we will work to improve everything that is happening right now, ”Rui Fontes told reporters.
As for the difference in votes, he ensured that it only reflected “how easy it is to combine the red-green associative mass, showing that“ he has already noticed a lot of unanimity ”around his candidacy.
To mark an “important and historic day” for the club, Rui Fontes revealed that the shirt he wears now, with green and red stripes, was the same one he wore in the last game, the one “in which he said goodbye to Maritimu.” , in 1997 “I thought today would be an important and historic day for Maritimo and I decided to wear her to celebrate this great victory for Maritimo fans,” he said.
Under his auspices, the island club entered the European tournament for the first time in its history – in the 1993/94 season, where Antwerp dropped out of the UEFA Cup and took part in the 1995 Portuguese Cup final for the first time. , the phase in which he lost to Sporting (2: 0).
The elections held at the Maritimo stadium generated a large influx of members – about 1891 voters – on a historic day for the Madeira club, which had not had two governing body lists for 40 years.
The President-elect presented a candidacy called “Tá na Hora – Novo Rumo”, becoming Carlos Pereira’s first opponent in the election campaign.
During the campaign, Rui Fontes announced an “ambitious project” to “place Maritima among the six, seven first national clubs” over the next three to four years, announcing that he would only preside over the club for one term.
The Madeira businessman, leader of the elected A list, intends to revolutionize the management of the Madeira emblem by attributing the leadership of the SAD to the former captain and current Lithuanian coach in Panevezys João Luis and his assistant, as well as the former home player, Luis Olim.>
“Decentralization in decision making, responsibility, professionalism, innovation and modernization” is what he proposes to apply, rejecting the “policy of one-man management” of Carlos Pereira.
Carlos Pereira, leader of List B, was defeated and removed from his position for 24 years.
The businessman also took part in European competitions seven times – of which 30 games in Europe -, two League Cup finals and a Portuguese Cup final, and was determined to serve his final term if re-elected.
The elections took place this Friday at Estádio do Marítimo with a slight delay in the opening of polling stations, which opened 10 minutes after the scheduled time (9 hours) and ran until 21:00, with 1,891 members voting in one outcome. 27285 votes, of which 192 are gaps and invalid.
According to the chairman of the General Assembly, Luis Miguel Sousa, the inauguration will take place in 15 days. According to Rui Fontes, “if everything works out, it could be tomorrow.”
