Dear all, as repeatedly discussed with several of you, I think there is consent that EURALO should launch an inter-RALO petition to get Avri and some more valid candidates back on the slate again. Below you can find a draft for such a petition to organise support from (at least two) other RALOs. Your comments, editings (from native speakers) ,modifications etc. are strongly welcome -- but please mark or insert them in the draft text already (to avoid time intensive tracing of suggested modifications for the final version). Thanks! If Olivier wants to co-sign the letter, you are welcome. Kind regards, Wolf --- beginning (Draft) --- EURALO Petition text: Dear Fatima, Dear Hong, Dear Andrés, Dear Evan, Dear RALO members In the context of the on-going At-Large voting Board Director selection process EURALO members suggested Avri Doria in August 2010 already to be added on the ALAC list of potential candidates. Avri Doria submitted her Statement of Interest (SoI) to the BCDE and ICANN as a prerequisite for being considered. EURALO supported her candidature because we believe Avri would be an excellent BD for the user community in view of her long-standing expertise, involvement at ICANN, sensitivity for user and community concerns and her proven leadership capacities. When Avri submitted her remarkable SoI, we were reaffirmed that she would be a suitable candidate for this position. There was considerable disappointment in the EURALO community when we learned from the At-Large slate published last week that she was not even nominated. We face some difficulties to understand why only three candidates were short-listed in a given option of five to seven and out of 22 pre-verified names. The lack of any gender consideration is only one disturbing aspect of the final selection. And as we could see from the Overview of Applicants on At-Large Director Candidate 2010 Workspace (see -- https://community.icann.org/display/atlarge/At-Large+Director+Candidate+2010...) there were some more highly qualified and suitable applicants who were not considered needlessly narrowing variety and option of choice for the At-Large community. As you may be aware, there is an agreed procedure that EURALO members will be consulted over the next weeks to vote on their preferred candidates to enable a directed vote to the EURALO Chair. And some of our members indicated their frustration and concern already about the given lack of choices. We were therefore asked to launch an inter-RALO petition ASAP to extend the At-Large voting slate again. According to the rules of procedure, candidates can only be reintroduced on the final slate if they get support from three RALOs at least. Therefore we would like to ask you for your respective support on the reconsideration of the following candidates: -Avri Doria -Jean-Jacques Subrenat -Jordi Palet Martinez We think it is self-explanatory that petitioning on behalf of someone or more candidates on a slate does not indicate any prejudice or mean a promise to vote for them – what is in the well-understood sovereignty of each RALO and its members. Decisions on voting should be based however on variety of choice, equality of gender and chances and full consideration of the candidates’ potentials. Under these conditions our members will have a broader chance of selection to make up their minds. We are simply trying to give ourselves the best options in selecting the best candidate. We would appreciate any favourable consideration and forwarding of our petition to your RALO and members and would be grateful for your support. Thanks and kind regards, Wolf Ludwig EURALO Chair --- end of draft --- comunica-ch phone +41 79 204 83 87 Skype: Wolf-Ludwig www.comunica-ch.net Digitale Allmend http://blog.allmend.ch - EURALO - ICANN's Regional At-Large Organisation http://euralo.org