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(1) Introduction
According to Section 11.4 and 11.5 of AfriNIC bylaws, each year, two seats of the Board will be open for election according to regional seat numbers (Section XX).
E.g. In 2010 Election, both Primary and Alternate board member seats from Western and Northern Region (seats 1 and 2) will be open for renewal for a three-year term (2010-2013).
The Board election usually takes place during the first AfriNIC Public Policy meeting of each year (in May/June).
It is envisaged to extend this face-to-face voting mechanism to postal and e-voting system. The Board will decide which method will be applied to a vote according to resources available with the objective of ensuring a fair participation of members-at- large to the process.
(2) Election Process
2.1) Who is elected?
All regular open positions in the board are for the primary and alternate position (Section 11.1 and 11.2 of AfriNIC Bylaws).
The board seats are numbered from 1 to 6 and terms are set and the election will be conducted according to the following sequence:
- Election for Directors representing Northern Africa and Western Africa;
- Election for Directors representing the Indian Ocean and Central Africa; and
- Election for Directors representing Southern Africa and Eastern Africa.
The candidate must be a natural person residing in a country from the AfriNIC service region
A person may only nominate one candidate. In case of multiple nominations by the same person, only the last nomination will be considered valid. AfriNIC or other RIRs staff cannot nominate candidates nor be nominated. Self-nominations will be allowed but in such case the nomination must be backed by at least two AfriNIC members in good standing.
2.2) Who can vote?
Only organisations fulfilling the following criteria are able to vote:
(i) Any valid (Valid members: Members who are active. Active in this context means member who has signed the AfriNIC Registration Service Agreement and whose financial records are clean in AfriNIC accounting books 7 days prior to the election date.) member of AfriNIC
(ii) Candidates for open positions (Candidates are entitled to one vote in their capacity of candidate.)
(iii) Proxies duly approved at least 48 hours prior to election day by the CEO and transmitted to the Chair of the NomCom (Candidate for an open position cannot carry other Organisation Proxy.)
Information about AfriNIC membership should be available online at least 7 days before the Members Meeting (MM).
2.3) Proxies.
If an organisation is not able to send a representative to attend an AGM, it can give its rights to vote to a Proxy according to the AfriNIC bylaws (Sections 10.31 to 10.37), by filling the proxy form that can be found at: (click here to download).
(3) Election time lines:
The Board election will be run according to the following schedule:
| When? |
What? |
Date |
| -36 days |
Opening of the candidacy/nomination period. |
04/05/11 |
| -19 days |
Close of Nomination period |
19/05/11 |
| -19 days |
Start Review of nomination, contacting nominees
for more details if needed |
19/05/11 |
| -18 days |
Official announcement of Slate of Candidates by
the Election Committee Chair and opening of
Public comment period |
20/05/11 |
| -2 days |
Close of public comments |
31/05/10 |
| Election Day |
Election supervised by the NomCom |
09/06/11 |
| Election Day |
Announcement of election Result |
09/06/11 |
1st July of
current year |
Elected candidates resume seats |
|
(4) How to Nominate:
Nominations must be submitted to nomcom2011[at]afrinic.net with the following information:
a) General Information:
- Nominator (Full Name):
- Nominee (Full Name):
- Organisation (or Affiliation):
- Current Position:
- Physical address:
- E-mail address:
- Phone number:
- Fax number:
- Country of Residence:
- Sub-region nominated for:
b) Brief statement explaining the candidate's background and motivation:
This should not be more than 400 words. (A copy of the candidate`s resume (and a photo) is needed by the NomCom - to be used for publication).
c) References:
At least two valid references that the NomCom could contact for further information and background checks should be provided:
- (Name, e-mail address, Organisation)
- (Name, e-mail address, Organisation)
|
(5) Verifying Nominations
AfriNIC Staff liaison to the NomCom verifies that all nominations were submitted within the given period and includes all the required information. The Chair of the NomCom should notify nominees and the nominator of the reception of the nomination. The Nominee should at the same time be asked for confirmation of intent to run for the seat. Ineligible nominations are rejected and the nominator and nominee are notified separately.
(6) Finalizing the Slate of Candidates
The NomCom reviews all completed nominations to verify that the nomination process is followed and reviews nomination forms to determine that all nominees meet the general criteria for a member of the Board of Director. The NomCom may decide to conduct interviews or further background checks on candidates. The Chair of the NomCom decides the means to be used for such further evaluation, however a report must be provided to the Staff and the NomCom. The Chairman of the NomCom then forwards the slate of candidates to the AfriNIC Staff for publication.
(7) Notification of Candidates
The AfriNIC CEO sends the final slate of candidates, via e-mail to:
- announce[at]afrinic.net,
- members[at]afrinic.net
- members-discuss[at]afrinic.net.
The candidate list and biographical information is simultaneously posted on the Election section of the AfriNIC website. The website will provide an online channel for anyone to voice support for any candidate during the open comment period.
All candidates are given the opportunity to present themselves to the general membership in a brief speech during the face-to-face meeting. The community may also direct questions to the candidate during the open comment period. These questions must be addressed to the NomCom and discussed on the members-discuss mailing list.
(8) Voting
- The Board of Director election opens in the afternoon of the last day of the first public policy meeting of the year and is carried out via paper ballots containing a list of candidate name per region. (Electronic vote is under evaluation)
- Voters may mark two (2) candidates for each seat on the ballot paper. Each mark will be equal to one vote. A ballot with more than two marks will not be counted and be considered nil.
- The vote will be anonymous.
- Elections will be closed as soon as the last member or proxy present in the meeting room has casted his/her vote. The candidates with the two higher number of vote for each region will be proclaimed winners as Primary and Alternate respectively.
- In the case the vote is tied for any of the open position, then it will be cast again. Only the candidates who tied will participate on the second round of voting until either one of the candidates receives more votes.
(9) Vote Counting and Announcement of Election Results
The CEO, Chair, and Co-Chair of the NomCom present during the face-to-face meeting and two (2) or three (3) volunteers from the other RIRs present in cooperation with AfriNIC Legal Counsel, shall compile the votes to determine the winners.
The Chair of the NomCom announces the election results after the vote count with the vote detail for only the elected candidates.
The CEO shall send the final result via e-mail to
- announce[at]afrinic.net
- members[at]afrinic.net
- rpd[at]afrinic.net
- members-
discuss[at]afrinic.net.
The result is simultaneously posted on the AfriNIC
website.
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