FIDE Elections – List of Federations with voting powers & Electoral Commission Report

The FIDE Congress will be held in Chennai, India between 31 July 2022 and 09 August 2022 as part of the Chess Olympiad 2022 (see all Olympiad news here). Part of it is the FIDE General Assembly, where on the agenda are the FIDE elections.

A total of five presidential candidates tried to complete the requirements for a valid presidential ticket. According to the 2022 FIDE Elections Timeline, by 6 pm CET on June 7, Presidential candidacies had to reach the FIDE Office. Following the deadline, the FIDE Electoral Commission consisting of Roberto Rivello (chairman), Francois Strydom and Lakhdar Mazouz held an online meeting.

The Electoral Commission published the 1st part of the report on Tuesday, June 7th, without the list of Presidential Tickets. The report listed FIDE Member Federations having Voting powers, while the Presidential Tickets will be published upon receiving the final report of the Electoral Commission on the subject.

FIDE Electoral Commission Report, June 7, 2022 – Part 1

“The Electoral Commission (hereafter ELC) held an on-line meeting on 7^th of June 2022, that was attended by all members of the ELC: Roberto Rivello (chairman), Francois Strydom and Lakhdar Mazouz.

Erald Dervishi, Observer nominated by the FIDE Continent – Europe (ECU) participated in the meeting as well.

The other Observers – Darcy Lima (Americas), Kezzie Msukwa (Africa), Rashid Alanezi (Asia) – apologised for not being able to attend the meeting. Darcy Lima, the day before the meeting, submitted written notes, that have been taken into account by the ELC.

The following points were inserted in the agenda, discussed and decided by the ELC.

I) Approval of the list of the Member Federations having right to vote (together with the names of the Presidents and of the FIDE Delegates);

In accordance with art. 3.4 of the Electoral Rules, sixty (60) days before elections, the FIDE Offices shall make public, both on the FIDE website and sending them to all Member Federations, a list of Member Federations having right to vote and a separate list of suspended Member Federations, if any, together with the names of the Presidents and FIDE Delegates.

These lists are just provisional ones; the ELC has the task to approve them carrying out only a preliminary exam, given that until thirty (30) days before elections, each Member Federation can communicate any election or nomination of a different FIDE Delegate or President.

The first point discussed by the ELC concerned the existence or not, at the present moment, of suspended Member Federations.

The FIDE Charter rules that the Council can suspend a Member Federation, with a decision that is immediately effective but subjected to confirmation by the General Assembly.

In occasion of the extraordinary meeting held on 27^th of February 2022, regarding “the current situation and the urgent measures to be taken after the military action launched by Russia in Ukraine”, among other measures the Council, “following the call from IOC”, decided that “no Russian and Belarusian national flag be displayed or anthem be played in all FIDE-rated international chess events” and “suspended Russia and Belarus teams from FIDE competitions”, but did not suspend the Member Federations of Russia and Belarus.

Therefore, to this date, there are not suspended Member Federations, for what concerns the election of the President and members of the FIDE Council, of the Zone Presidents, and of the members of the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission and of the Constitutional Commission (FIDE Continents can organise their internal elections in accordance with their internal rules). As a consequence, it is not necessary to prepare a separate list of suspended Member Federations.

The Council, in the last months, following an advisory opinion of the Constitutional Commission, decided to nominate a “FIDE reverse delegate” for some Member Federations. The decision to nominate a reverse delegate is aimed to help Member Federations, that were not able to fully respect all obligations prescribed by the FIDE Charter, to overcome their difficulties and problems, this way avoiding the more severe measure of the suspension of the FIDE membership.

“FIDE reverse delegates” have been charged and empowered, among other tasks, to liaise with national authorities, facilitating the solution of internal conflicts and to give impulse to the organisation of regular assemblies.

The ELC is informed that the mandate assigned to the FIDE reverse delegates has been extended by the Council until the end of June 2022 and that the Constitutional Commission has been requested to express an advisory opinion -about the current situation of these Member Federations- before the end of June 2022 as well. Therefore, the ELC shall wait for the consequent decisions of the Council -that it is likely will be assumed before next deadline of the 7^th of July 2022-, before assuming any decision about voting powers and representation of these Member Federations, that in the current list will be indicated without mentioning the names of their President and Delegate.

Then, the ELC examined the data communicated by the FIDE Offices.

The Observers Darcy Lima and Erald Dervishi indicated two possible inaccurate references, regarding Member Federations of Ecuador and Cyprus. The ELC verified these indications and agreed on them.

About Member Federations of Belize, Dominica, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the ELC, considered that they became FIDE Members in December 2021, they will have no voting powers in 2022 FIDE Elections

Finally, the ELC approved the list annexed to this report, that the FIDE Offices shall publish on the FIDE website and shall communicate to all Member Federations, together with the part of this ELC report regarding this issue.”

List of FIDE Member Federations having Voting powers: