Dear GNSO Council,

Please see below the GNSO Chair election timeline for the 2026 GNSO Chair election. We are sharing ahead of the announcement deadline in order to allow for more flexible election scheduling. This will be posted shortly on the GNSO Elections webpage.

	GNSO Chair election timeline
Deadlines	Not Later Than:	Activity Commences:	Time Available:
27 February 2026	Mid-year ICANN Meeting and/or dependency on new travel deadlines	Announce Proposed Procedure and Timeline	1 Day
19 June 2026 (ICANN87 funded traveler name submission deadline)	T – 60 Days and/or dependency on new travel deadlines	NomCom Selectees Announced	1 Day
		SG/C New Council Members Announced	1 Day
		House Nominee Selection	30 Days
21 September 2026	T – 30 Days	Houses Submit Nominees	1 Day
3 October 2026	T – 18 Days	Candidates Submit Statements	12 Days
18 October 2026	T – 3 Days	Candidate Meetings	2 Days
21 October 2026	T	Election Held at Annual General Meeting	1 Day
23 October 2026	T + 2 Days	Council informs the Board & Community and posts election results on the GNSO website	2 Days

Traditionally the timeline is built in keeping with GNSO Operating Procedures guidelines, but with the funded traveler submission deadline now being 120 days prior to the meeting (instead of 90 days), we have had to adapt the first two steps of the timeline. This now fits in with the 19 June 2026 as submission deadline for funded traveler names for ICANN87.

The remaining steps however are in keeping with the GNSO Operating Procedures, counting back from the election date.

Please let me know if you have any questions. 

Kind regards,

Terri

Policy Team Supporting the GNSO