I think it's very valuable and would be a welcome change if FIDE adopted the same. The point is that it enables a distinction to be made between appointing someone because there was no other choice offered and unanimous support.Michael Flatt wrote: The one candidate I do not welcome and have never understood since such an individual doesn't exist is: None of the above
There's a non obvious downside to the Board's decision to endorse a practising newspaper columnist as ECF President. Every so often, the columnist will write on something outside of chess which is disagreed with, sometimes with fervour, by individuals in the chess community.