NCSG Election Clarifications

[Robin Gross]

Dear Peter,

The basis for the rules we follow regarding elections to the GNSO can be found in Art. 3.1. of the NCSG Charter.  We have been using this system since it was adopted in 2011. You may disagree with it; there is indeed some rigidity to it. You are also free to voice your disagreement.  A few years ago, we were momentarily worried that we would not have enough male candidates to meet our charter requirement, and now the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction and we almost didn’t have enough female members to meet our charter requirement for gender diversity.  The prohibition in the charter that “in no circumstance should there be fewer than 2 members of any gender” on council is rather inflexible and strong in its requirement for gender diversity.

While elections are often a time where procedural debates arise, we would however encourage discussions about changes to our electoral system for the GNSO Council positions to take place outside the electoral period. The reason for this is that a change to this electoral process would require a Charter amendment, in line with the rules at Art. 5 of said Charter.

You can find the most recent version of the NCSG Charter here: https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/filefield_25801/ncsg-charter-05may11-en.pdf <https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/filefield_25801/ncsg-charter-05may11-en.pdf>

Thank you for your understanding and continued engagement.

Best,
Robin

> On Jun 1, 2020, at 2:50 PM, Akinremi Peter Taiwo <compsoftnet at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Dear Robin,
> 
> As much as your clarification cleared the air, kindly provide link to the text in the NCSG charter wherein it is stated that because of gender diversity, a candidate will be auto elect. Maybe this has to be the norm going forward in our election processes. If that is the case, let scrap election and make a random selection of suitable candidates based on gender diversity and competency. 
> 
> Regards
> ᐧ
> 
> On Mon, Jun 1, 2020 at 8:14 PM Robin Gross <robin at ipjustice.org <mailto:robin at ipjustice.org>> wrote:
> NCSG Members:
> 
> I want to clarify a few issues in advance regarding the current NCSG election. 
> 
> 1.  We have 4 GNSO Council seats up for election.  The top 3 vote getters will receive a full two-year term.  The 4th place vote getter will only be for a one-year term because it is filling a seat vacated mid-term.  This is subject to paragraph 2 below.
> 
> 2.  Regarding the gender diversity rule for the GNSO Council, the NCSG Charter provides that “in no circumstance should there be fewer than two members of any gender.”  As Tatiana is presently our only continuing female member, candidate Stephanie will automatically be elected to the GNSO Council regardless of how many votes she receives because we are required to have at least two female Council members under our charter.  So the gender rule, trumps the number of votes earned in terms of winning a seat.  This means that Stephanie + the top 3 vote getters from the other candidates will be elected to Council.
> 
> 3.  Our regional diversity rules should not be a factor in this election, however, because no more than two members would be declared resident of the same geographic region.
> 
> I hope this can help to make the election process more clear to everyone.  Thank you.
> 
> All best,
> Robin
> 
> 
> -- 
> Best regards
> 
> Taiwo Peter Akinremi
> ------ ------ -------  ------ ------ -------  ------ ------ ------- ------ ------ -------  ------ ------ ------
>  IT Manager/Advisory
> Phone; +2348187476292, +2347063830177 Skype: akinremi.taiwo
> Email: info at compsoftnet.com.ng <mailto:info at compsoftnet.com.ng> Website: www.compsoftnet.com.ng <http://www.compsoftnet.com.ng/>
> ___________________________________________

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