Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's campaign for the FIDE presidency claims to have 81 supporting federations. The latest to join is Cyprus. Whether true or not, that long list of Kirsan's supporters consists mostly of, well, let's just say that they're not exactly powerhouse chess nations (excepting, that is, The Philippines).
On the other hand, Karpov's campaign has only attracted about 22 nations or so. At least that's how many I spotted in that ridiculous scrollbar with the flags! They may be few, but many are some of the heavyweights in world chess: US, Germany, England. The latest to sign up is definitely one heavy, though if not chessically, then at least financially. It's the UAE.
This latest news about the UAE's choice of candidate is interesting because just yesterday, Kirsan himself was in the Emirates to promote his campaign. Obviously, he did a terrible job!
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On the other hand, it's not a terribly good example of the theory that Kirsan is being backed by dictatorships and Karpov by democracies.
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