Villar Mir expects to come out top

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MADRID, Spain -- Juan Miguel Villar Mir, who finished third in Real Madrid's presidential election, still expects to be declared the winner.

Villar Mir said he was "convinced" that he would win his legal appeal to have 10,511 postal votes included in the result of July's poll of club members.

Villar Mir, who was Spain's finance minister from 1975-76, received 6,702 votes -- 1,396 fewer than victor Ramon Calderon.

However, Villar Mir says that he has obtained at least 4,700 of the postal votes, including 1,000 from the employees of his construction company.

"I am convinced that when the postal votes are counted our candidature will be the winner. I hold a big advantage over the other candidates," Villar Mir told sports daily As on Wednesday.

"I believe the courts will order counting of the postal votes within two or three weeks."

Postal voting was provisionally disallowed by a judge two days before the election and Madrid subsequently said it would adhere to the decision.

The dispute delayed the proclamation of Calderon as Madrid's 18th president for a day.

Since then, the lawyer has appointed Fabio Capello as coach and Predrag Mijatovic as sports director.

Meanwhile, Fernando Fernandez Tapies, who originally stood to be the club's vice-president under candidate Juan Palacios, has also entered the frame.

Madrid's electoral committee ruled on Tuesday that Fernandez Tapies could take over the candidacy, even though Palacios has withdrawn his bid. Palacios finished second with 8,098 votes.

"If we win the count we will choose a president. It could be me or someone else," Fernandez Tapies said.

Calderon, in an apparent reference to Villar Mir and Fernandez Tapies, said an attempt had been made to take advantage of the team's 2-1 loss against Celta Vigo on Sunday.

Carrion crows

"They have been quick to appear like carrion crows after the Celta defeat and can't stop giving press conferences," Calderon said.

Almost 28,000 members voted in the election in the hope of electing a new administration which would end Madrid's three-year drought without a trophy, its worst streak since the early 1950s.

Madrid are fourth in the Spanish league, with 17 points from nine games, and has secured a place in the knockout stage of the Champions League.

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