Not in the least bit extraordinary. Kirsan is a totally unsatisfactory President in the eyes of many English or UK players. Potential FiDE Delegates may wish to out themselves as Kirsan apologists or Kirsan supporters and exploit this as an electoral advantage or otherwise.NickFaulks wrote: What an extraordinary question! In order to be considered for Delegate, you must be willing to put aside any notion of contemplating who might be the best candidate for FIDE President, and instead commit your support in advance to a "challenger to be named".
The ECF voting system leaves something to be desired, but the numbers of totally unaccountable voters is relatively limited.
So a three way question for the three candidates
Are you
(a) a Kirsan supporter
(b) a Kirsan apologist
(c) a Kirsan opponent
I would infer Malcolm as (c), Stewart as (b) and Lara as not known. The ECF's paper by Phil Ehr tries to be (b) but with a hint of (c) if as is likely FIDE doesn't behave itself.