FIDE Handbook A. Administrative Subjects / 03. Electoral Rules / Electoral Regulations effective till 28 December 2021 /

CONTENTS

A. Administrative Subjects / 03. Electoral Rules / Electoral Regulations effective till 28 December 2021 /

Electoral Regulations effective till 28 December 2021

Approved by the 2012 General Assembly
1. The Presidential Ticket
	1.1	The Presidential ticket shall be six persons, at least one of whom must be a woman. Nominations on the Presidential ticket shall specify the proposed nominees for the offices of FIDE President, Deputy President, General Secretary, Treasurer and two Vice Presidents.
	1.2	Nominations for the Presidential ticket and Continental Presidents must reach the Secretariat at least three months before the opening of the General Assembly. Each ticket must be nominated by at least five member federations. The decision of the federation shall be communicated to FIDE by the federation's President. A federation is entitled to nominate only one Presidential ticket. FIDE is entitled to accept the authenticity of the nomination it receives and no nomination can be withdrawn once given. A person nominated on a Presidential ticket cannot also run on a Continental ticket.
	1.3	Each Presidential Candidate shall present to the Secretariat the following documents within the deadline in Article 1.2: (a) the names of the persons included on the Presidential ticket with their positions (b) nominating letters by at least five federation Presidents (c) letters of confirmation of acceptance from each person on the ticket. The Secretariat will acknowledge receipt of the documents to each Presidential candidate.
	1.4	The Secretariat will announce the Presidential tickets on the FIDE website the day following the deadline in Article 1.2 above and will ensure that the listing of all nominees is included in the agenda sent to all member federations prior to the Congress.
	1.5	The elections for the Presidential ticket shall be held prior to all other elections.
	1.6	On the day of the elections, the candidate for President of each Presidential ticket will have a maximum of fifteen (15) minutes on stage to present their programme. The order of appearance shall be decided by the drawing of lots.
	1.7	In case one member of a Presidential ticket becomes incapable to run for the election (death, illness or similar serious reasons), he/she can be replaced on the Presidential ticket within 20 days after the unexpected event, but at the latest until the day before the election. All other conditions concerning the nominations are applicable. In case of doubt, the ELE shall make a decision.
2. Other elections
	2.1	Following the Presidential ticket election, the elected President will declare and justify the proposed number of appointed Vice Presidents. The General Assembly shall confirm or reject this proposal. In case of rejection, the General Assembly shall decide the number of nominated Vice Presidents but with a minimum of three and a maximum of five.
	2.2	Then the General Assembly shall adjourn and the Continental Associations shall convene to elect their Continental President and Continental Deputy President. During this adjournment, nominations for FIDE elected positions, including elected Vice Presidents, Ethics and Disciplinary Commission, Constitutional Commission and Verification Commission, shall be made to the Secretariat by the delegates or proxies representing federations at the General Assembly.
	2.3	Upon conclusion of all Continental Association elections the General Assembly reconvenes and takes note of the appointments of the Continental Presidents and Deputy Presidents.
	2.4	The President shall announce the number of appointed Vice Presidents which he will propose. Then the General Assembly will elect the same number of Vice Presidents. After the election, the President will announce the names of his appointed Vice Presidents, which will be confirmed by the General Assembly. The General Assembly confirms the candidate following the voting procedures in Article 4.7 of the statutes. If a President’s nominee is rejected by the General Assembly, the President may propose a different candidate for confirmation by the General Assembly. Each member federation may have only one elected or appointed Vice President.
	2.5	Members of the Verification Commission, the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission and the Constitutional Commission are all elected after the Vice Presidents.
	2.6	Thereafter the President may nominate no more than 4 Honorary Vice-Presidents to serve on the Presidential Board for a 4-year term. the persons so nominated by the President as Honorary Vice-Presidents shall be chosen based on their personal merits and service to FIDE and shall be confirmed by the General Assembly. The Honorary Vice-Presidents shall have non-voting positions on the Presidential Board.
	2.7	A defeated candidate from a Presidential ticket may accept nomination for any elected office, except on a Continental ticket.
	2.8	A candidate for the position of Vice President, to be elected by the General Assembly, must be nominated by at least three delegates or proxies. A delegate or proxy is entitled to nominate only one candidate.
3. Electoral process
	3.1	To secure a fair and impartial electoral process, three scrutineers, a chairman and two members, shall be appointed for the elections by the General Assembly immediately after the roll call on the first day of the General Assembly. The scrutineers preside over the electoral process for elections of the Presidential tickets and elected Vice Presidents. Any representative of a member federation not running for a position on the Presidential Board may nominate a candidate for scrutineer. Each scrutineer shall be elected individually by the General Assembly by a show of hands. The person receiving the most votes shall be appointed Chairman. The scrutineers cannot be nominated or elected for any Presidential Board position in that election.
	3.2	Preceding the elections, there shall be a roll-call, in alphabetical order, to establish the number of votes possible.
	3.3	Ballot papers shall be prepared for the elections, with the names of the candidates if there is more than one for a given office. The Chairman of the scrutineers shall initial each ballot before distribution.
	3.4	Each Presidential candidate is entitled to appoint one observer for the counting of the ballots.
	3.5	During elections,each federation shall be called in alphabetical order to place its ballot in the ballot box, which shall have a slot on top, shall be openly visible to the General Assembly from all sides and shall be separated from any other object. The procedures of voting will be announced by the scrutineers at the meeting.
	3.6	Each ballot paper shall contain all the names of the candidates. If possible, a list with the candidates for each office shall be circulated before the elections. Each delegate votes for up to the maximum possible number of vacant positions. If they vote for more, then the ballot is not valid. Valid votes are those where a mark has been made within the box on the ballot paper. Marks such as ‘x’, ‘√’ or ‘+’ are acceptable.
	3.7	For all elections a majority of the votes cast, not counting abstentions, shall be required. If there is a tie, the voting is repeated until the tie is broken. If three or more persons are nominated for the same offices or office, the candidates that receive 50% plus one of the votes cast, are elected on the first ballot. Thereafter, the candidates receiving most votes on the second ballot are elected to the vacant number of offices. If there is a tie, the voting is repeated until the tie is broken. The election procedure for the Continental offices will follow the regulations in each Continent.
	3.8	The election procedure for the Zonal Presidents will follow the regulations of each zone.
	3.9	Each Continental Association shall have the right to elect 4 members from the Continent to the Executive Board. This election shall take place in accordance with the Continental Association regulations.
	3.10	All FIDE officials will enter duty upon the close of the General Assembly at which they were elected or appointed.
4. Election conditions
	4.1	Elections shall be held immediately after the consideration of the report of the FIDE President and that of the Treasurer, including the Auditor’s report, Verification report, discharge of the Treasurer and votes on exclusions of member federations on the first day of the General Assembly. In election years the speech of the President shall be limited to 30 minutes based on a written report previously circulated covering past activities and questions and comments shall be limited to 15 minutes.
	4.2	All elections and appointments are valid for a period of 4 years unless otherwise specifically stated.
	4.3	For all positions that are not elected according to point 1 and 2 in the Electoral regulations or according to FIDE Statutes or regulations, the FIDE President nominates a candidate and such candidate is subject to confirmation by the General Assembly. The General Assembly confirms a candidate based on the regulations in Article 4.7 of the Statutes. If a President’s nominee is rejected by the General Assembly, the President may propose a different candidate for confirmation by the General Assembly. Such appointed officials have no voting rights on the General Assembly, Executive Board or Presidential Board. Any vacancies of nominated Commission Chairmen may be filled by the Presidential or Executive Boards.
	4.4	Any change in the Electoral Regulations will come in to effect on the last day of the General Assembly after the closing of the meeting.
	4.5	Any complaint regarding the elections shall be addressed to the Electoral Commission (ELE) in accordance with the deadlines and procedures set forth in the section entitled ‘Electoral Commission’ in chapter 8 of the Statutes.
5.Proxies
A. Presidential Election years
	(1)	At the latest eight weeks before the opening session of the General Assembly, the FIDE Secretariat shall send to all member federations, and publish on its website, a complete list of the delegates registered on the FIDE website.
	(2)	At the latest five weeks before the opening session of the General Assembly, the President of each member federation shall inform the FIDE Secretariat in writing of any changes to be made to this list. If there has been no such notification by this deadline, and there is no delegate on the list that was published on the FIDE website pursuant to Section (1) above, the delegate shall be the President of the federation.
	(3)	Immediately after the deadline in Section (2) above, the Electoral Commission shall verify the list of delegates. The Electoral Commission shall notify the FIDE Secretariat of the final list of delegates in time to allow the FIDE Secretariat to send this list to all member federations, and publish it on its website, at the latest four week before the opening session of the General Assembly.
	(4)	A member federation can assign a proxy only in writing and only to a delegate of another federation who is on the list that is referred to in Section (3) above. Once assigned, a proxy cannot be revoked. For a proxy to be valid, it must be dated and either signed or sent by the President or delegate of the federation. For the delegate, the accreditation shall be based on the list referred to in Section (3) above, and for the President, the accreditation shall be based on the last reporting by the member federation to FIDE concerning this position. The proxy can be either an original or a copy, and can be delivered by any means. No other formal elements are necessary for the validity of the proxy. Where two proxies are received and there is a conflict, the order of priority shall be as follows: Proxies received from the delegate Proxies received from the President
	(5)	Proxies shall be dated and delivered to the Secretariat in the period between the date of the publication on the FIDE website of the list of delegates pursuant to section (3) above and a date no later than two weeks before the opening session of the General Assembly. After this deadline, further proxies will not be accepted, except for re-assignments as stated below, until all elections and appointments of FIDE officers have concluded. After the conclusion of all elections and appointments of FIDE officers, the provisions on non-election years in section (B) below will apply.
	(6)	Immediately after the registration period for proxies has closed, the Electoral Commission shall verify the list of proxies. The Electoral Commission will notify the FIDE Secretariat of the list of the proxies in time to allow the FIDE Secretariat to send this list to all member federations, and publish it on the FIDE website, at the latest one week before the opening session of the General Assembly.
	(7)	Every delegate is permitted to represent, besides his own, only one additional federation in the General Assembly. If (and only if) a delegate has been assigned two or more valid proxies, the delegate can re-assign the valid proxies over the one he is allowed under this Section until 17.00 h three days before the opening of the General Assembly. A proxy can be re-assigned only to the delegate of another federation who is on the list that is referred to in Section (3) above and it cannot be re-assigned to a federation who assigned or re-assigned it. A re-assignment cannot be revoked. The FIDE Secretariat shall immediately submit such re-assigned proxies to the Electoral Commission. If, as a result of re-assignments, a delegate has more proxies than allowed under this Section, the Electoral Commission will make reasonable efforts to contact the delegate and advise him that he can further re-assign the extra proxies by the deadline in this Section. If after the deadline for re-assignments in this Section, a delegate has more proxies than allowed under this Section, the Electoral Commission will make reasonable efforts to contact the delegate and request which proxy he wishes to consider invalid. If the delegate has not notified the Electoral Commission which proxy he wishes to consider invalid by the time the final list must be published pursuant to Section (10) below, the Electoral Commission will decide which proxy is considered invalid. After the elections, any such proxy will be valid again and the delegate may re-assign it. The Electoral Commission shall verify re-assignments of proxies in time to allow the FIDE Secretariat to comply with the deadline set forth in Section (10) below.
	(8)	Up to 17.00 h three days before the opening of the General Assembly, a delegate included in the list published pursuant to Section (3) above may, if no valid proxy of his federation has been assigned to the delegate of another federation, surrender the voting power of his federation in favour of the President of that federation upon written notice to the FIDE Secretariat. This rule does not apply to proxies received by the delegate. The FIDE Secretariat shall immediately submit written notices received pursuant to this Section (8) to the Electoral Commission, which shall verify them in time to allow the FIDE Secretariat to comply with the deadline set forth in Section (10) below.
	(9)	The FIDE Secretariat shall publish the complete list of those entitled to vote on the FIDE website by 17.00 h two days before the opening of the General Assembly.
	(10)	At the opening of the General Assembly, the Electoral Commission reports on the complete list of those entitled to vote and answers any questions and comments. The General Assembly cannot overrule the decisions of the Electoral Commission.
B. Other years
In other years, the procedures set out in section (A) above shall apply, except as follows:
	(1)	As of the date of publication on the FIDE website of the list of delegates pursuant to section A(3) above, proxies can be assigned, re-assigned and/or revoked until 17.00 h on the day before the opening of the General Assembly. After the roll call on the first day of the General Assembly, proxies can be assigned, re-assigned and/or revoked at any time.
	(2)	The FIDE Secretariat shall verify the revoked, assigned or re-assigned proxies promptly upon delivery.
	(3)	Any disagreement as to who is entitled to vote at the General Assembly is referred to the Constitutional Commission for final decision.