The promise of true reform

After the Annual General Meeting in December 2006 ended with no changes to the shambolic electoral process that blighted the last presidential election, a "Reform Commission" was set up in June 2007 to look at redrafting the club's statutes. It is particularly appropriate that they should choose this week to present their findings and proposals, given the recent controversy about the selection of socios compromisarios.

The reportedly independent commission is composed exclusively of 20 Real Madrid socios from a number of areas of expertise: legal, academic, political, former players, etc. Their final draft, which was presented to the board for approval, is expected to be the main agenda item at a forthcoming Extraordinary General meeting, where the members will get a chance to vote on it. Some of the main proposed changes are as follows:

• Electoral process: This will be modified to abide by similar rules as those enshrined in law for Spanish general elections. In particular, as regards the postal vote, the Spanish Post Office was approached to jointly come up with a process that "guarantees honesty, transparency and security".
  
• Selection of socios compromisarios: The subject of much controversy recently, the new process would ensure that all those who presented themselves as candidates could do so as long as they were witnessed by a notary, up to a maximum number of 2,000. If more candidates presented themselves, the choice would be by a notary-witnessed public lottery. This is much preferable to the previous model.
  
• Disciplinary code: This has been applied inconsistently over the years, so the penalties for disciplinary offences (by players, for example) would be defined in the statutes