The future direction of European champions Barcelona will be decided on Saturday as almost 110,000 'socios' vote whether to retain confidence in incumbent Josep Maria Bartomeu or a previous president, Joan Laporta.

There are two other candidates -- small businessman Agusti Benedito and lawyer and former club spokesman Toni Freixa -- but they are unlikely to cause an upset in an election that has become increasingly acrimonious.

Of the 109,367 members who have the right to vote, just over a third had done so by 6pm local time (1600 GMT). The polls at the Camp Nou close at 9pm local time, with the winner likely to be announced a few hours after that.

Laporta was in charge from 2003-10 and has to his credit that he appointed Pep Guardiola to the coaching job in 2008 -- a decision which sparked a trophy-laden spell of success.

Also regarded as being financially unsound, Laporta has attacked Bartomeu and his predecessor, Sandro Rosell, for standing despite facing criminal charges.

"We have two men, Mr Bartomeu and (his predecessor Sandro) Rosell, who are being pursued for corruption...if they had a minimum of decency they would not stand," said Laporta at the press conference when he announced his decision to stand.

Rosell, a former ally of Laporta's before the two fell out in 2005, resigned last year when investigations began into alleged misappropriation of funds in the signing of Brazilian star Neymar from Santos.

Bartomeu, who had been the vice-president, stepped up to replace Rosell but in May a court ordered him to stand trial along with the club in the Neymar case.

However, despite Laporta's onslaught -- he has also criticised Bartomeu's more nuanced stand on Catalan independence which is in stark contrast to his own position -- Bartomeu remains the favourite.

Barca's on-field success following their treble of Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey last season puts Bartomeu in the box seat.

In addition, the 52-year-old Bartomeu -- who succeeded Rosell without being elected when the latter stood down -- has overseen the club return its biggest ever profit of 608 million euros ($650m, £422m).

The election was called a year early by Bartomeu at a time when tensions inside the club were running high because of poor relations between Barca coach Luis Enrique and star player Lionel Messi -- remedied in dramatic fashion by the treble that followed in the spring.

Laporta, 53 and who has spent the past eight years dabbling in politics, says he wants Barca to return to the "values" of his previous term in office, with an emphasis on bringing through players from La Masia, the club's renowned youth academy, and bringing back the Unicef logo on team shirts.

He also said that he would look to sign French international midfielder Paul Pogba from Juventus -- he is also a reported target of English side Manchester City.