Perez wins Real Madrid vote to extend reign after rare election challenge

MADRID, June 8 : Florentino Perez survived Real Madrid's first genuine presidential contest in two decades in the early hours of Monday, securing four more years at the helm but with more than a third of voting members backing a challenger who attacked his ownership plans.

The 79-year-old Spanish construction magnate was acclaimed as the winner by Real Madrid TV, while his rival, renewable energy tycoon Enrique Riquelme, conceded defeat a little over one hour ahead of the official tally.

Perez won 65 per cent of the vote, the club's official count showed, while Riquelme took 35 per cent of a total of 33,555 members who voted at Real's Valdebebas training ground on the outskirts of Madrid on Sunday.

"I would like to congratulate Florentino Perez's campaign on its victory. Real Madrid will not go another 20 years without an election," Riquelme told reporters.

Perez called the election on May 12 despite having two years left on his mandate, after a second straight season without silverware for the record 15-times European champions and with arch-rivals Barcelona retaining their LaLiga title.

He declared the result "extraordinary" in a victory speech at a hotel in the Spanish capital and said Real had "set an example to the world of transparency and harmony".

"This has been a great day for Real Madrid. We have won across the board, that is to say, across all age groups. And we have achieved the second-best result in the history of Real Madrid elections," Perez said.

Perez first became Real president in 2000 and had renewed his mandate five times since 2009 by running unopposed. The club had not held a formal presidential vote since 2006, when Ramon Calderon won by a narrow margin.

In the build-up to Sunday's vote, Perez promised to