Dear ccNSO Members, This is to inform you about the status and next steps for the 2020 ccNSO Council elections. In accordance with the approved timeline, the nomination period for the ccNSO Council closed on Wednesday, 30 September 2020, 23:59 UTC. The nomination archives can be found here<https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/ccnso-nominations/>. In accordance with the applicable rules, the following candidates were nominated, seconded and have accepted their nomination for the ccNSO council election: * Africa: Hadji Mmadi Ali * Asia-Pacific: Anil Kumari Jain, Boyoung Kim, Jiankang Yao * Europe: Irina Danelia * Latin America – Caribbean: Jenifer Lopez * North America: Sean Copeland This announcement will be posted here: https://ccnso.icann.org/en/about/elections/council.htm Next steps: Africa, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean, North America As only one candidate was nominated and seconded within the nomination period for the African, European, Latin American-Caribbean and North American regions, no elections need to be held in those regions. Since at the close of nominations there are no more valid candidates in the aforementioned geographic regions than there are seats on the ccNSO Council available for those regions, the nominated candidates shall be selected to serve on the ccNSO Council. Next steps: Asia-Pacific For the Asia-Pacific region, in accordance with the applicable rules, three (3) candidates were nominated, seconded and have accepted their nomination. Consequently, an election will be held - according to the timeline previously agreed upon by the ccNSO Council - among the ccNSO members from the Asia-Pacific region. * Election opening and closing Voting in the first election round starts on Tuesday, 03 November 2020 (00:01 UTC) and closes on Tuesday, 17 November 20202 (23:59 UTC), as per the timeline<https://community.icann.org/download/attachments/138970351/Item%209%20-%20ti...> approved by the ccNSO Council. * Election procedure The vote will be by confidential email. Voting ballots will be sent by tally@icann.org<mailto:tally@icann.org> to the e-mail address of the primary contact of each ccNSO Member from the Asia-Pacific region, as listed in the ccNSO Members database. As per the relevant guideline, a majority of all ccNSO members in the Geographic Region entitled to vote shall constitute a quorum, and the selected candidate must receive the votes of a majority of those cast by ccNSO members within the Geographic Region. Contact Joke Braeken (joke.braeken@icann.org<mailto:joke.braeken@icann.org>) if you have questions or concerns regarding the e-mail address of the primary contact for your ccTLD. Since the election is for one seat, each ccNSO member will be entitled to vote for up to one candidate. Please note: * Voting ballots will be sent by the e-mail address tally@icann.org<mailto:tally@icann.org>, to the e-mail address of the primary contact of the ccNSO Members from the Asia-Pacific region, as listed in the ccNSO Members database. * If you are unable to locate the ballot, consider checking your spam folder. * Contact Joke Braeken (joke.braeken@icann.org<mailto:joke.braeken@icann.org>) if you have questions or concerns regarding the e-mail address of the primary contact for your ccTLD * For each ballot, a maximum of 1 candidate can be selected * There is a possibility to submit your ballot without selecting any of the candidates * Each primary contact will receive 1 ballot only. You can vote an unlimited number of times, but only the last vote submitted will be counted. Question and Answer Session with the ccNSO Council candidates at ICANN69 A question and answer session will be held at the upcoming ccNSO Members Meeting at ICANN69, scheduled for Tuesday, 13 October 2020 (12:00-13:30 UTC). Session chair is Biyi Oladipo (.ng). All candidates that accepted their nominations are invited to participate in the Q&A session, which will provide the ccNSO members and broader ccTLD community an opportunity to interact with the Council candidates. Please note: Registration is now required<https://events.icann.org/icann69-agm/registration> to view the ICANN69 schedule<https://69.schedule.icann.org/>. Session Participation links will be published 24 hours in advance of the session. Please check the schedule before the session for the latest information. Consult here<https://community.icann.org/display/ccnsowkspc/ccNSO+Members+Meeting+%7C+ICA...> the agenda of the ICANN69 ccNSO Members Meeting. In preparation of the Q&A session, the written candidate statements and possible other material shared by the candidates will be posted on the ccNSO website and shared with the ccNSO Members. The candidate statements have been attached to this email. * Africa: Hadji Mmadi Ali * Asia-Pacific: Anil Kumari Jain, Boyoung Kim, Jiankang Yao * Europe: Irina Danelia * Latin America – Caribbean: Jenifer Lopez * North America: Sean Copeland Conclusion The Election Manager will prepare the Election Report for the 2021 ccNSO council elections for consideration by the ccNSO Council, latest by the end of December 2020, after closure of the second round or run-off elections, if any. The Council Election process 2021 will formally close 7 days after adoption and publication of the Election Report. The terms of the appointed Council members will start at the end of ICANN70, in March 2021. Background In March 2021, at the conclusion of ICANN70, the 3-year term of the following ccNSO Councillors ends: * Africa: Abdalla Omari * Asia Pacific: Young Eum Lee * Europe: Katrina Sataki * Latin America/Caribbean: Margarita Valdes * North America: Byron Holland The ccNSO opened a call for nominations to fill those seats as per the timeline<https://community.icann.org/download/attachments/138970351/Item%209%20-%20ti...> approved by the ccNSO Council: the nomination– and secondment procedure started on Wednesday, 9 September 2020 (00:01 UTC) and closed 3 weeks later, on Wednesday, 30 September 2020 (23:59 UTC). 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://community.icann.org/download/attachments/138970351/Item%209%20-%20ti...> * Announcement regarding the call for nominations<https://ccnso.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-08sep20-en.htm>: opening * Announcement regarding the call for nominations:<https://ccnso.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-01oct20-en.htm> closure Best regards, The Election Manager Joke Braeken ccNSO Policy Advisor joke.braeken@icann.org