[To: council[at]gnso.icann.org] Dear Council Members, The call for nominations has been updated for clarity, though no substantive changes have been made since yesterday. The change involves clarifying that 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. Also clarified is the two part nature of the process. The entire nomination process lasts 2 weeks. (7 to 21 October 2009) - Week one is dedicated to council wide nominations - Week two is dedicated to each House's section of their single candidate from the pool of nominees. ----- - Pursuant to the ICANN bylaws http://www.icann.org/en/general/bylaws-amendments-27aug09.pdf 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. - And to the GNSO Operating Procedures which will be approved before the elections: http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/draft-gnso-operating-procedures-24sep09-en.pdf http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/draft-gnso-operating-procedures-24sep09-en.doc 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. (Note: this is an interim procedure because the GNSO Operating Procedures are pending approval and currently submitted for public comment http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/#gnso-operating-procedures-2009) -------------- A formal nomination period, for the election of GNSO Council chair for the period 28 October 2009 until the end of the 2010 Annual meeting is now open for two weeks from Wednesday, 7 October to Wednesday 21 October 2009, ending at 23:00 UTC. The process of nominations for GNSO Council chair is divided into TWO parts: Part 1: A council wide call for nominations from 7 - 14 October Part 2: A House specific process to determine the house candidate form the pool of nominees 15 - 21 October Part 1 _Council Wide Nominations for Council chair_ Wednesday 7 October 2009 to Wednesday 14 October 2009 at 23 UTC. All nominations should be accepted and seconded within the period 7 - 14 October 2009. Only GNSO Council members are eligible to make nominations and second nominations. Only GNSO Council members who will be in the newly seated council at the time of the election (28 October) may be nominated. Any council members who will be in that council may be nominated, even if they do not currently sit in the council and irrespective of House placement. Nominations and seconds should be sent to: gnso.secretariat [at] gnso.icann.org Nominations and seconds will be acknowledged and posted to the Council list. Nominees shall submit a candidacy statement in writing to the Council not later than 14 October 2009. Part 2 _Each House determines a Candidate_ After council wide nominations are closed, each house will be allowed to select one candidate for GNSO Council Chair from the pool of nominees. 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. Each house must announce their chosen candidate by 21 October 2009 at 23 UTC. The two houses may, separately, select the same candidate from the nominee pool if they so wish. The candidates from each of the houses shall have the opportunity of meeting with Council Members at the GNSO Working Group sessions in Seoul on Saturday morning, 24 October 2009. (Proposed agenda: https://st.icann.org/gnso-council/index.cgi?agenda_24_oct_2009) B. PROPOSED SCHEDULE FOR THE VOTING For this election, the voting will take place at the public Council meeting in Seoul on Wednesday, 28 October 2009. Avri Doria, current GNSO Council chair, will serve as non-voting chair of the bicameral Council meeting on 28 October until such time as a new chair is elected, at which time the new chair will assume the chair responsibilities. If an absentee ballot is required to complete the chair's election, this will be a 24 hour ballot scheduled to end on 29 October. If no chair has been elected by the end of the Annual meeting on 30 October, the vice-chairs will assume the chair responsibilities as defined in the Bylaws and a runoff will be scheduled as determined in the Council 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. 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. Note: The Election of Vice chairs is house specific and will be defined elsewhere) Thank you very much. Kind regards, Glen Glen de Saint Géry GNSO Secretariat gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org http://gnso.icann.org