Is there hope for competent, non-corrupt leadership at the head of FIDE? Maybe, but there's plenty of cause for concern. Here's an interview with IM Malcolm Pein (once known as the voice of Fritz; now known mainly as a chess organizer, e.g. of the London Chess Classic), who is running on Giorgios Makropoulos' ticket. Running against Makro will be someone from Russia (maybe quasi-incumbent president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, maybe Arkady Dvorkovich) and as of fairly recently, GM Nigel Short.
While Short has ruffled feathers in the chess world by being abrasive on occasion and, in years past, for expressing politically incorrect opinions about women's chess, he is scandal-free as far as I'm aware. Makropoulos has at least been controversial in his long tenure under Ilyumzhinov. (See the end of this article, for instance, and note too Makropoulos's response.)
"Do not put your trust in princes", writes the psalmist (Psalm 146:3), and it's good advice. But it's okay to hope for the best, and to support the best option of the bunch, as possible. If Ilyumzhinov manages to run again, I'd say support whichever alternative candidate has the best shot of defeating him. But otherwise I'm not entirely sure. Those readers who are more aware of, say, Dvorkovich, Makropoulos, and Short-as-a-possible-politician are invited to weigh in (non-libelously, it goes without saying).