He made chess compulsory in his state

One of the most eccentric figures in Russian regional politics, a businessman impassioned by chess, soccer and Rolls-Royces, was favourite t...

One of the most eccentric figures in Russian regional politics, a businessman impassioned by chess, soccer and Rolls-Royces, was favourite to win a third term on Sunday as President of Kalmykia on the Caspian Sea.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, whose vision for the Steppe region includes a “mobile telephone for every shepherd”, has led Kalmykia since 1993. He won the last poll in 1995 with 85 per cent of the vote as the only candidate.

Ilyumzhinov is head of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and has made chess, considered a sport in the former Soviet Union, a compulsory subject in Kalmyk schools.

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Moscow has been watching the election closely after a string of scandal-filled local polls, including a contest in Siberia which became so tangled President Vladimir Putin intervened to declare a winner.

“There are 11 candidates, and this is progress for the Republic of Kalmykia, if we think that seven years ago there was only one candidate,” Alexander Veshnyakov, head of Russia’s Central Election Committee, said on the eve of the vote.

Ilyumzhinov, 40, who ordered the construction of a $30million chess complex in one of Russia’s poorest provinces, is accused by opposition leaders of corruption and nepotism.

But Ilyumzhinov, who has offered huge tax advantages to attract businesses to his largely Buddhist region of 300,000, denies he has dipped into the local budget. He says he funds his activities through his various activities.

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Reports from the region said turnout by mid-afternoon had cleared the 25 percent needed to validate the poll — a problem among Russia’s largely apathetic voters.

The leading candidate must score 50 percent of the votes cast to avoid a run-off. On the eve of the poll, Ilyumzhinov’s backers gathered in the central square of Elista, Kalmykia’s regional capital, raising posters of their candidate flanked by the Dalai Lama, Buddhist Tibet’s spiritual leader.

“There will most probably not be a second round,” a spokesman for the President said.

Ilyumzhinov’s opponents, mostly local businessmen, said the incumbent President had abused his position to dominate the airwaves and intimidate voters. “His people went round to those who collected signatures to support us and asked ’Why did you collect signatures?’” said Baatyr Shondzhiyev, a banker and one of Ilyumzhinov’s 10 rivals.

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His blueprints for the region, which he says he hopes to turn into “a second Kuwait”, also include plans for a space launch site. (Reuters)