Protest letter from ECU Federations to FIDE

25 October 2010

VIA E-MAIL AND COURIER

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, President
Georgios Makropoulos, Deputy President
David Jarrett, Executive Director
Fédération Internationale des Échecs
9 Siggrou Avenue 11743 Athens Greece

Re: Improper Appointment of Five Vice-Presidents at the 2010 FIDE Congress in Khanty-Mansiysk

Dear Sirs,

We, the undersigned member-federations of the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (“FIDE”), write to protest the appointment by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov of five FIDE Vice Presidents at the 2010 FIDE Congress in Khanty-Mansiysk, in violation of the FIDE Statutes and Electoral Regulations. 

Article 9.6 of the FIDE Statutes states: “At the conclusion of elections for the Presidential ticket, the President shall be entitled to nominate 2 additional Vice-Presidents and no more, as the 2nd and 3rd Vice-Presidents...” (Emphasis added).  Pursuant to Article 2 of the FIDE Electoral Regulations, “[t]he nomination and confirmation of the 2 appointed Vice Presidents shall be made in the General Assembly immediately after the election of the Continental Presidents. After the appointment of the 2 Vice Presidents, the individual elections of 3 additional Vice Presidents takes place.” (Emphasis added).

Over the formal protest of the Georgian Chess Federation, Mr. Ilyumzhinov appointed on the last day of the 2010 FIDE Congress in Khanty-Mansiysk not two but five Vice Presidents, all of whom are his political allies or supporters.[1]  This is a clear violation of Article 9.6 of the FIDE Statutes. Further, these nominations also violate Article 2 of the Electoral Regulations as they were never subject to “confirmation…in the General Assembly,” and they did not take place “immediately after the election of the Continental Presidents” as the Continental Presidents were elected on 29 September 2010 whereas all five appointments occurred on the last, sparsely attended, day of the Congress (3 October 2010).  Finally, the “individual elections of the 3 additional Vice Presidents” did not occur “after the appointment of the 2 [nominated] Vice Presidents,” as required by Article 2 of the Electoral Regulations. Instead, the elections of the three elected Vice-Presidents took place on 30 September – 1 October, long before the improper appointments of the five Vice-Presidents.

We consider these actions to be serious violations of the FIDE Statutes and Electoral Regulations, which raise doubts about the care, independence and fairness with which the 2010 Elections were run. It has been widely discussed and appears from the factual circumstances that these improper appointments were promised and made as a reward for those who aided the Ilyumzhinov Presidential ticket in the 2010 FIDE Presidential elections. It is inappropriate for the FIDE President to create additional posts in contravention of the FIDE Statues, and to fill these posts with supporters using a process that violates the FIDE Statues and Electoral Regulations, to advance his chances in the election. Correcting this violation of the FIDE Statues and Electoral Regulations requires that FIDE (i) immediately remove all five improperly appointed FIDE Vice Presidents and (ii) ensure that the proper process pursuant to Article 2 of the FIDE Electoral Regulations is followed in the “nomination and confirmation … in the General Assembly” of the two Vice-Presidents that the FIDE President is entitled to propose under Article 9.6 of the FIDE Statutes. At the very minimum, three of the five incompliant appointments must be revoked. We request an answer to our letter by close of business on Monday, 1 November 2010. We reserve our rights to take further measures in the absence of a timely and adequate response. 

This letter is supported by the following FIDE members, listed in alphabetical order:

[1] See FIDE announcement entitled “Elections and Nominations from Khanty-Mansiysk,” 8 October 2010, listing the “Nominated Vice Presidents” as: