The 2006 FIDE election has concluded on Friday, June 2, 2006.

The final votes were:

96 Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
54 Bessel Kok

The following are past FIDE Presidents:

Alexander Rueb 1924-1949
Folke Rogard 1949-1970
Max Euwe 1970-1978
Fridrik Olafsson 1978-1982
Florencio Campomanes 1982-1995
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov 1995-

Incumbent FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was reelected by a wide margin with 96 votes against Bessel Kok`s 54. The two protagonists praised each other for their love for chess. In his address after his reelection, Kirsan pledged to attend to the concerns raised by the Bessel Kok campaign and, in the FIDE spirit of `Gens Una Sumus` invited his workers to join the FIDE team. Kok in turn thanked his supporters and called the election a fair fight with secret voting. The FIDE General Assembly applauded as the two gave each other a warm embrace.

At the start of the General Assembly, a board of Canvassers was appointed to review proxies and establish a quorum. The board consisted of FIDE Honorary Member Casto Abundo of the Philippines and former FIDE Executive Director Emmanuel Omuku of Nigeria for the Kirsan team, and former Noureddine Tabbane of Tunisia and lawyer Eric P.A. Keyzer representing the Bessel Kok team.

The question of representation of the Peru Chess Federation, which was a matter for the board to decide, was brought to plenary session and this caused further delay as the matter was debated. In the end, the decision of the Board of Canvassers not to allow Peru to vote was the ultimate result as the two opposing sides could not come to an agreement.

Carol Jarecki, representing the British Virgin Islands, called the roll as Allan Herbert of Barbados stamped, signed and handed out ballots.

At the end of the first day, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov appointed Zurab Azmaiparashvili of Georgia, Nizar El Haj of Libya and Khalifa Al Hitmi of Qatar as FIDE Vice Presidents.
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Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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