Dear Sue and Dan: I have been asked by a group of the European ALS members to get a view for them on the following questions related to the candidature of Veronica Cretu for one of the two EURALO-elected ALAC seats. The background: Ms. Cretu was nominated for the seat, and accepted the nomination, in advance of a deadline for receiving nominations of 20th April. It became clear after the nominations period closed that Ms. Cretu was not a member of any accredited ALS in the European region. Annette Muehlberg, the ALAC member appointed by the NomCom for the European Region, and official representative of the Network New Media ALS located in Germany, then announced by email that Ms. Cretu was now a member of the same ALS. Ms. Cretu is herself a national of Moldova. The MoU with ICANN provides, in Clause 5.4.1, attached and as follows: "The EURALO will choose two (2) individuals to serve as representatives on the At Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) and other bodies as appropriate in the terms specified in the ICANN Bylaws. The voting rights shall be determined by the EURALO. The selected representatives must be members of different ALSes, must have their principal residence in different countries of the region and their nationalities must be different, save always that the EURALO may define additional diversity requirements. Selected representatives will have the responsibilities described in the ICANN Bylaws. " Likewise, the Bylaws of the EURALO provide as follows in connection with this situation: "11.5 The General Assembly is responsible, without limitation, for the following matters: [...] 11.5.10 Electing the ALAC members representing Europe. The selected representatives must be members of different ALSes, must have their principal residence in different countries of the region and their nationalities must be different. To the extent possible, gender balance and regional balance within Europe shall be fostered." The questions the region needs answered, in order to be assured of avoiding any unintentional violations of either the letter or the spirit of the rules and procedures, are as follows: 1) Since the nominations closed on 20th April and the candidate was not at that time a member of any ALS, is her candidature forfeit? 2) Since she is now a member of the same ALS (from Germany) as the NomCom representative Annette Muehlberg who is herself also a German national, does this invalidate her candidature? Be advised that the answers to these questions need to be forwarded directly to the community in question, and are urgently needed as the elections are due to start at Noon UTC on Friday 11th May. -- Regards, Nick Ashton-Hart Director, At-Large ICANN PO Box 32160 London N4 2XY United Kingdom Main Tel: +44 (20) 8800-1011] USA Tel: +1 (202) 657-5460 Fax: +44 (20) 7681-3135 mobile: +44 (7774) 932798 email: nick.ashton-hart@icann.org Win IM: ashtonhart@hotmail.com / AIM/iSight: nashtonhart@mac.com / Skype: nashtonhart Online Bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtonhart