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GAC 2019 Vice-Chairs Elections
The ICANN65 Marrakech meeting marked the beginning of the 2019 GAC Leadership Election cycle. The annual election cycle begins with the opening of an extensive nomination period during the ICANN Policy Forum and potentially concludes with a balloting period before and during the ICANN Annual General Meeting (AGM) at ICANN66 in early November in Montreal.
This year’s leadership elections are open for five (5) GAC Vice Chair positions. Vice Chairs each serve a one-year term.
Nomination Period
The nomination period started on 25 June 2019 and will be open until 23:59 UTC on 02 September 2019.
This web page provides detailed information about the nomination process and will be updated as nominations are received and acknowledged.
Pertinent information regarding the nomination process is set forth as follows:
- Self-nominations or third-party nominations for the Chair positions should be made by email to the GAC membership mailing list – gac@icann.org. A nominating email should be clearly titled as “GAC Chair Nomination”. Candidates can only be nominated during the nomination period.
- Individuals nominated by a third party will be asked by ICANN GAC support staff to confirm their acceptance of the nomination and willingness to stand for election. Self-nominations will not require that confirmation.
- The ICANN GAC support staff shall keep track of the nominations in a shared document on the GAC web site.
- The eligibility requirement stated in GAC Operating Principle 22, that GAC Chair [and Vice Chair] candidate(s) be “accredited representatives” has, in practice, been taken to mean GAC Member Primary Representatives, Alternate Representatives and Advisors are eligible for nomination and election to serve.
- Two reminders about the nomination period will be sent to the GAC membership list – the first about half way through the period and a second reminder one week prior to the close of the nomination period.
- If the number of valid nominations for a particular leadership position are equal to or less than the number of open leadership positions, no balloting will be necessary and the nominated candidate(s) will be elected by acclamation.
- If there are more nominations than seats available for a particular leadership position, then balloting will be conducted to fill the position. Any balloting will take place by electronic means as provided for in GAC Operating Principles 34 and 35.
- In addition to keeping track of the nominations in a shared document on the GAC web site, within three days of the close of the nomination period, the ICANN GAC support staff will inform the membership of the need for an election by ballots or acclamation.
Elections
A voting/balloting process to elect the Chair will be held before and during the ICANN69 ICANN Meeting (October 2020).
Votes shall be taken by secret ballot and will be cast electronically between Saturday 26 September 2020 and Tuesday 20 October 2020. Voting will officially close at 23:59 UTC on Tuesday 20 October 2020. It will be a matter for each voting Representative to decide if they wish to make his or her choice public (Principle 34). The GAC Support Staff will provide a secure, online voting facility utilizing the Tally voting platform.
There will be no physical voting available for this election. All votes will need to be cast electronically which allows for vote-casting at a date and time that suits the individual voters, between the opening and closing dates of the election.
After the election has closed, the GAC Support Staff will review and confirm the voting results and announce the result of the election under the supervision of the outgoing Chair (Principle 34). The staff review process will include checking to ensure that all votes are cast by eligible GAC Representatives. Election results shall be determined by simple majority. For the election of the GAC Chair, the single (1) candidate who gathers the most votes will be appointed as Chair.
Casting Your Vote
The Tally system is email based. GAC Support Staff will enter all identified voter emails into the Tally system. On the opening date of the election (26 September), staff will instruct the system to generate emails to all eligible voters. Each voter will receive a private ballot link via email that will enable them to cast their ballot. Each ballot link will remain open throughout the voting period so that voters can change or update their ballots until the election period closes.
Tied Ballots
In the case of a tied election (two candidates receive the same number of votes) that prevents the Chair to be determined, a second electronic ballot shall be held during the ICANN69 Meeting. The second ballot shall be restricted to the candidates who are subject to the tied vote for the remaining position. If this second round of voting is required, only those GAC members present and able to vote in-person during the session will be eligible to vote. (Principle 32).
Eligibility to Vote
Only GAC Representatives are eligible to vote (Principle 16). GAC Representatives, Alternate Representatives, and Advisors are listed on the GAC website at https://gac.icann.org/about/members.
The current Chair is also eligible to vote.
GAC Observers are NOT eligible to vote (Principle 16). GAC Observers are listed on the GAC website at https://gac.icann.org/about/members.
Any questions about the voting process should be directed to GAC Support Staff at gac-staff@icann.org.
Votes placed by any person whose name is not listed on the GAC website will be deemed invalid – although the electronic voting system should prevent this from happening as the system used for the electronic voting will be populated only with the email addresses of the Representatives for each GAC Member. The system then sends invites for election participation to only those emails.
Confirming Designated Voters
GAC Members have until [XXXX] to ensure the details listed on the website are correct for purposes of the election. Any revisions or corrections to the list should be sent in an email to gac-staff@icann.org.
Some Representatives may opt to defer to another delegation member to fulfill the voting role. This intention must be expressed by the Representative by the same deadline as above to gac-staff@icann.org.
The email address listed on the website will be used unless a notification of another email address for this purpose is received by the same deadline as above.
Although actual balloting is not guaranteed, each election cycle creates the opportunity for the staff to update GAC membership information, because staff uses the membership list information to manage the election balloting.
| The electronic voting tool defines the electorate by email address. Thus, it is very important that you verify that your GAC Member information on the GAC website is correct. The first person listed in your member entry will be considered as the “voter” for your country or territory. Please notify gac-staff@icann.org if an individual other than the first person listed on the web site should be the one to cast the vote or if an email address than the one listed should be used for the balloting process. |
LIST OF GAC VICE-CHAIR NOMINEES.
Persons nominated for the Vice-Chair vacancy are identified below:
| Person Nominated | Nominator | Date of Nomination |
| Abdulla Jassmi (Qatar) | Self nomination | 9 July 2019 |
| Olga Cavalli (Argentina) | Alejandra Erramuspe (Uruguay) | 26 July 2019 |
| Pua Hunter (Cook Islands) | Pär Brumark (Niue) | 27 July 2019 |
| GUIGUEMDE Jacques Rodrigue Ragnimpinda (Burkina Faso) | Cherif Diallo (Senegal) | 22 August 2019 |
| Guo Feng (China) | ZHANG Ya (China) | 28 August 2019 |
| Luisa Paez (Canada) | Charles Noir (Canada) | 29 August 2019 |
| Jorge Cancio (Switzerland) | Wim Rullens (Netherlands) | 16 September 2019 |
Election Results
The GAC Vice Chair election voting period concluded on 3 November 2019.
The requirements of GAC Operating Principle 32 and 35 (see GAC Operating Principles) were satisfied, as a total of 101 ballots (“more than 1/3 of the GAC Members) were submitted. There were no ties that would prohibit identifying the candidates with the five highest vote counts, thus further in-person paper balloting was not needed.
The resulting vote totals were:
22 - Abdulla Jassmi
64 - Olga Cavalli
52 - Pua Hunter
49 - Rodrigue Guiguemde
46 - Guo Feng
53 - Luisa Paez
66 - Jorge Cancio
Based on the votes cast, the elected 2020 GAC Vice Chairs will be:
Olga Cavalli (Argentina) (second consecutive term)
Luisa Paez (Canada) (second consecutive term)
Pua Hunter (Cook Islands) (first term)
Guiguemde Jacques Rodrigue Ragnimpinda (Burkina Faso) (first term)
Jorge Cancio (Switzerland) (first term)
The official one-year vice chair terms for the new vice chairs will formally start after ICANN67 and go until the end of ICANN70. New vice chairs will be invited to attend upcoming leadership calls to assist in their onboarding and transition to their new roles.