Dear All, Please find the GNSO Council Election Procedures for the GNSO Council Chair to be seated in Cartagena in December 2010 as approved at the GNSO Council meeting on 28 October 2010. The voting period has been shortened and now will end on 29 November 2010 and the results will be announced on 30 November 2010. Please forward this to your respective groups right away so that the procedures can be initiated Immediately. These procedures are posted on pages: http://gnso.icann.org/ http://gnso.icann.org/elections/index.html COUNCIL ELECTION PROCEDURES OCTOBER/ NOVEMBER 2010 Approved 28 October 2010 This document contains the GNSO Council Election Procedures for the GNSO Council Chair to be seated in Cartagena in December 2010. References * ICANN Bylaws (http://www.icann.org/en/general/bylaws.htm#X ) Article X, Section 3, paragraph 7. The GNSO Council shall select the GNSO Chair for a term the GNSO Council specifies, but not longer than one year. Each House (as described in Section 6 of this Article) shall select a Vice-Chair, who will be a Vice-Chair of the whole of the GNSO Council, for a term the GNSO Council specifies, but not longer than one year. The procedures for selecting the Chair and any other officers are contained in the GNSO Operating Procedures. In the event that the GNSO Council has not elected a GNSO Chair by the end of the previous Chair's term, the Vice- Chairs will serve as Interim GNSO Co-Chairs until a successful election can be held. * GNSO Council Operating Procedures approved on 5 August 2010 (http://gnso.icann.org/council/gnso-op-procedures-05aug10-en.pdf ) 2.2 Officer Elections: Chair and Vice-Chairs - The GNSO Council shall select the GNSO Chair and two Vice Chairs as follows: a. The GNSO Chair shall be elected by a 60 percent vote of both houses. b. Each house will be allowed one candidate for GNSO Council Chair. A candidate for GNSO Council Chair does not need to be a member of a house but must be a member of the GNSO Council. Should a Chair be elected outside the houses that Chair will be a non-voting Chair. i. All ballots will include the "none of the above" option. In the event that this option gets 60 percent of both houses, each house will commence a new nomination period of not longer than 15 days. The election will be rescheduled for no sooner than 30 days. ii. In the case of a tie the election will be rescheduled no sooner than 30 days. In the case of a second tie, each house will commence a new nomination period of not longer than 15 days. The election will be rescheduled for no sooner than 30 days. iii. The leading candidate will be defined as the one with the highest score. For each candidate, determine the percentage of vote received in each house; add these percentages to determine the score; the leader is the one with the higher score. (Maximum score equals 200.) iv. In case neither candidate reaches the 60 percent of both houses threshold, a second ballot will be held between the leader and "none of the above." v. If the single candidate does not reach the 60 percent of both houses threshold, then each house will commence a new nomination period of not longer than 15 days. The election will be rescheduled for no sooner than 30 days. c. Each house shall select a Vice Chair within their respective houses. d. A Chair and Vice Chair may not be elected from the same Stakeholder Group. e. The Chair or Vice Chair shall retain their votes in their respective houses. f. In the event that the GNSO Council has not elected a GNSO Council Chair by the end of the previous Chair's term, the Vice-Chairs will serve as Interim GNSO Co-Chairs until a successful election can be held. g. The Council shall inform the Board and the Community appropriately and post the election results on the GNSO website within 2 business days following the election. Chair Qualifications Summary Nominees must be members of the council at the time the election is held and not necessarily at the time that the nominations are made. This means that: * A current council member who will not be in the new council is not eligible to run for chair. * An incoming council member who is not currently in the council is eligible to run for chair. Only current GNSO Council members are eligible to make nominations and second nominations. Chair Nomination Process Per the GNSO Operating Procedures referenced above (Section 2.2.b): "Each house will be allowed to nominate one candidate for GNSO Council Chair. Each house is responsible for determining how to nominate its candidate." To allow for the possibility of a timely Council election process in Cartagena, each house is asked to submit its nominee for Council chair for the term beginning at the end of the 2010 ICANN annual meeting not later than 10, November 2010. Nominees shall submit a candidacy statement in writing to the GNSO Secretariat (gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org) as soon as possible after they have been selected by their house and not later than 22:00 UTC on 12, November 2010. A candidate for GNSO Council Chair does not need to be a member of the house selecting the candidate. Should the non voting NCA be elected as chair he/she would be a non-voting chair. The two houses may, separately, select the same candidate from the nominee pool if they so wish. House nominations for Council Chair should be sent to gnso.secretariat@icann.org. The GNSO Secretariat will send each House's nomination to the Council list as soon as it is received. Voting Procedure The candidates from each of the houses shall have the opportunity of meeting with Council Members during the GNSO Council meeting on 18 November 2010. The first round of voting for Council Chair will be held electronically from 19 November until 29 November 2010. The GNSO Secretariat will announce the results of the first round of voting no later than 30 November 2010. If no election of chair occurs in the first round of voting, the GNSO Operating Procedures quoted above in Section 2.2.b will be followed. Seating of the New Chair Chuck Gomes, current GNSO Council chair, will serve as chair of the Council meeting on 8 December 2010. The newly elected chair of the Council shall assume responsibilities at the end of the 2010 ICANN Annual meeting or as soon as an election occurs thereafter. If no chair has been elected by the end of the Annual meeting on 10 December 2010, the vice-chairs will assume the chair responsibilities as defined in the Bylaws and a runoff will be scheduled as described in the GNSO Operating Procedures. The winning candidate needs 60% of the votes of each house. The Council shall inform the Board and the Community appropriately and post the election results on the GNSO website within 2 business days following the election. (Note: The Election of Vice Chairs is house specific and will be defined elsewhere) Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you. Kind regards, Glen Glen de Saint Géry GNSO Secretariat gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org http://gnso.icann.org