Dear All, The 3-year term for five members of the ccNSO Council will end in March 2022, at the conclusion of the ICANN73 Community Forum: * Africa: Biyi Oladipo * Asia Pacific: Jordan Carter * Europe: Nick-Wenban Smith * Latin America/Caribbean: Demi Getschko * North America: Pablo Rodriguez The ccNSO is opening a call for nominations to fill those seats: the nomination and secondment procedure starts Wednesday, 15 September 2021 (00:01 UTC) and closes 3 weeks later Wednesday, 6 October 2021 (23:59 UTC). All materials related to this Council Election will be posted here: https://ccnso.icann.org/en/about/elections/council.htm The ICANN Bylaws, Article 10 – Section 10.4 (g)<https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/governance/bylaws-en/#article10> state: "(g) The ccNSO Council members selected by the ccNSO members from each Geographic Region (see Section 10.3(a)(i)) shall be selected through nomination, and if necessary, election, by the ccNSO members within that Geographic Region. At least 90 days before the end of the regular term of any ccNSO-member-selected member of the ccNSO Council, or upon the occurrence of a vacancy in the seat of such a ccNSO Council member, the ccNSO Council shall establish a nomination and election schedule, which shall be sent to all ccNSO members within the Geographic Region and posted on the Website." How to nominate and second a candidate Timeline The nomination and secondment procedure starts Wednesday, 15 September 2021 (00:01 UTC) and closes 3 weeks later Wednesday, 6 October 2021 (23:59 UTC). Who can nominate or second? The ICANN Bylaws, Article 10 – Section 10.4 (h)<https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/governance/bylaws-en/#article10> state: "(h) Any ccNSO member may nominate an individual to serve as a ccNSO Council member representing the ccNSO member's Geographic Region. Nominations must be seconded by another ccNSO member from the same Geographic Region. By accepting their nomination, individuals nominated to the ccNSO Council agree to support the policies committed to by ccNSO members." As per the relevant ccNSO guideline<https://ccnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/field-attached/guideline-ccnso-c...>, new ccNSO members are able to participate in the nomination process if the ccNSO membership application has been approved by the ccNSO Council one day prior the nomination process starts, i.e. latest on 14 September 2021. Self-nominations As per the relevant ccNSO guideline <https://ccnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/field-attached/guideline-ccnso-c...> , ccNSO members may self-nominate themselves, but are not allowed to second their nomination. Self-nominations must be seconded by two ccNSO members from the region. Instructions Nominations and secondments should be sent by e-mail to the Election Manager at the following e-mail address: ccnso-nominations@icann.org<mailto:ccnso-nominations@icann.org>. Templates for nominating and seconding nominations are provided below. You are kindly invited to follow these instructions closely, and not to use alternative templates. Template for nominations: NOMINATION TO THE CCNSO COUNCIL 1. Your full name: 2. Your e-mail address: 3. Your ccTLD: 4. Your geographic region: 5. Full name of the person you nominate to the ccNSO council: 6. e-mail address of the person you nominate: Template for seconding nominations: SECONDING A NOMINATION TO THE CCNSO COUNCIL 1. Your full name 2. Your e-mail address: 3. Your ccTLD: 4. Your geographic region: 5. Full name of the nominee you would like to second: Archive for nominations and secondments: http://forum.icann.org/lists/ccnso-nominations Eligibility requirements to be elected to the ccNSO Council A Councillor can be any individual nominated, seconded and elected as described in the ccNSO Council Election Guideline <https://ccnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/field-attached/guideline-ccnso-c...> . Individuals are elected in their personal capacity and serve the ccTLD community. Councillors do not represent the views and interests of their employers. Candidates need to be neither resident in the region, nor a citizen of a country, within the region in which they stand for election. A valid candidate is one that has been nominated and seconded according to the ccNSO council Election Guideline, and that has accepted the nomination. If there is more than one valid candidate in a Geographical Region, an election shall be conducted in that region. Voting will be by secret ballot: the ballot is identified only by a code and not by a name. During a Council Election Webinar (16 September 2021, noon UTC), the ccNSO Chair and other Councillors give an overview of the election process and address the need to replace Councillors at reasonable and regular intervals. Moreover, they provide further information about the required skill sets for Councillors, the time commitment and working methods of the ccNSO Council. Consult the webinar recording<https://community.icann.org/display/ccnsowkspc/ccNSO+Webinars> here. Accepting nominations After closure of the nomination period, the Election Manager will ask the candidates that are nominated to accept their nomination. Self-nominations are understood to have accepted their nomination. The Election Manager will provide a list with the name(s) of the candidate(s) who have accepted their nomination. A record of who has nominated and seconded the candidate(s) is publicly available: http://forum.icann.org/lists/ccnso-nominations Next steps The Election Manager will ask the candidates to provide a written candidate statement. A Question and Answer session with the candidate(s) will be held at ICANN72 in October. The session is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, 26 October 2021 (16:00-17:00 UTC). The draft ICANN72 ccNSO Members Meeting schedule is published here: https://community.icann.org/x/hAEuCg In preparation of the Q&A session, the written candidate statements will be posted on the ccNSO website. The Q&A session gives the ccNSO members and broader ccTLD community an opportunity to interact with the candidates. If at the close of nominations there are no more valid candidates in a particular geographic region than there are seats on the ccNSO Council available for that geographic region, then the nominated candidates shall be selected to serve on the ccNSO Council. Otherwise, an election shall be held for that geographic region, to select the ccNSO Councillors from among the valid candidates. Links * Archive for nominations and secondments<https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/ccnso-nominations/> * Relevant ccNSO guideline<https://ccnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/field-attached/guideline-ccnso-c...> * Timeline<https://ccnso.icann.org/en/workinggroups/timeline-nomination-election-2022-1...> * ccNSO Council Election Webinar: recording<https://community.icann.org/display/ccnsowkspc/ccNSO+Webinars> Joke Braeken ccNSO Policy Advisor joke.braeken@icann.org