[To: council[at]gnso.icann.org] Dear Councillors, The time is approaching for the GNSO Council elections for ICANN Board seat # 14 which is currently held by Rita Rodin. The current term for seat # 14 expires six months after the conclusion of ICANN's annual meeting in 2007, which would be 2 May 2008. Pursuant to ICANN Bylaws (http://www.icann.org/general/bylaws.htm) Article VI, section 8.4, the GNSO should give notice of its selection no later than five months after the Annual General Meeting in 2007, which would be 2 April 2008. ICANN Bylaws (http://www.icann.org/general/bylaws.htm) Article VI, section 2.3, requires that "no two Directors selected by a Supporting Organization shall be citizens of the same country or of countries located in the same Geographic Region." Since Bruce Tonkin is a citizen of the Asia/Pacific region, the GNSO may not select another Director from that region. The GNSO is free to select a citizen of any of the four other regions, since each region will continue to have at least one Director per region and no region could have more than five as a result of the GNSO's pending selection. The previous election procedures will be used and posted in detail to the Council list. http://gnso.icann.org/announcements/gnso-nom-template-20070226.shtml http://gnso.icann.org/elections/election-procedures-12mar07.shtml Below is a proposed election schedule for Council discussion: Nomination of Candidates: Opens: Thursday 10 January 2008 at 00:00 UTC Closes:Thursday 31 January 2008 at 17:00 UTC (This would give Councillors the possible opportunity to perhaps meet and interview the candidates at the Indian meeting) Voting: 1st round 29 February - 7 March 2008 2nd round 7 March - 14 March 2008 3rd round 14 March - 21 March 2008 (3 rounds are foreseen in case of ties) Confirm results at a Council meeting tbd. Announce the Council's choice to the ICANN General Counsel by Wednesday, 2 April, 2008. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome. Thank you. Kind regards, Glen -- Glen de Saint Géry GNSO Secretariat - ICANN gnso.secretariat[at]gnso.icann.org http://gnso.icann.org