LACNIC Staff's Interpretation of the Proposal
Authors:
● Jordi Palet Martinez
● Ricardo Patara
● Nicolás Antoniello
● Fernando Frediani
● Hernán Moguilevsky
● Sergio Rojas
Applicability:
This proposal introduces changes to the PDP.
Modifications to the current text:
The proposal modifies subsections “3.2.2. About the PDP Chairs” and “3.2.3. Election of the PDP Chairs,” and adds a new subsection “3.3. Appeals Regarding the Election Process.”
Proposed Text:
3.2.2. About the PDP Chairs
3.2.2.1. Individuals who hold a position at LACNIC (Board of Directors, Electoral Commission or staff) may not stand as candidates to be elected PDP chair. Other potential incompatibilities must be decided by the Electoral Commission.
3.2.2.2. PDP chairs serve in a voluntary and unpaid capacity.
3.2.2.3. Any one of the contacts of a LACNIC member organization or person nominated by such contacts may stand as a candidate to be elected PDP chair.
Candidates must have been subscribed to the public Policy List for at least twelve (12) months prior to the announcement of the election.
3.2.2.4. PDP chairs will each serve a two-year term, with one position up for renewal each year. Unlimited reelection is allowed.
3.2.3. About the election of the PDP Chairs
3.2.3.1. The Board of Directors may delegate its functions related to the election process to an Electoral Commission.
3.2.3.2. Calls for nominations will be announced through the public Policy List.
3.2.3.3. Nominations will include the candidate's biographical information, as well as any other information that may be relevant to the role. The Electoral Commission may request additional information when necessary.
3.2.3.4. Voting will be conducted electronically, using mechanisms to ensure, to the extent possible, that each voter can cast only one vote.
3.2.3.5. Anyone who has been subscribed to the Public Policy list for at least six (6) months prior to the announcement of the election may vote.
3.2.3.6. Use of the public Policy List for electoral campaigning is forbidden. Breaches will be dealt with by the Electoral Commission.
3.2.3.7. The election process must be completed before the first Public Policy Forum of the year.
3.2.3.8. The elected chair will be announced during the first Public Policy Forum held after the election and will begin their term immediately after the closing of said Forum.
3.2.3.9. If a candidate is not elected, the LACNIC Board will appoint, as soon as possible, a chair to fill the vacant position until the following Public Policy Forum. The person thus appointed will only serve in their position until the next time an election can be held.
3.2.3.10. This same mechanism will apply if any of the chairs resigns before the end of their term.
3.3. Appeals Regarding the Election Process
3.3.1 Appeals regarding the election process must be addressed to the LACNIC Board, who must resolve them within a maximum of four (4) weeks.
3.3.2. The Board may extend this four-week period, provided that they adequately justify their decision on the Policy List.
3.3.3. The Board may convene a specific committee to advise them on these appeals.
LACNIC Staff Comments:
1) LACNIC interprets that the two-year term applies to candidates elected regularly. In the case of exceptional elections, the term might be shorter than two years.
2) We understand that the Board of Directors may delegate all matters related to the Election Process either to an existing Electoral Commission or to a separate commission it creates specifically for this purpose. In either case, this commission will be referred to as the Electoral Commission throughout the PDP.
3) Our interpretation is that, if the Board were to convene a committee for this purpose, it would be responsible for deciding which committee handles the appeal to the election process in each case. In some cases, this might be the Electoral Commission itself.
4) LACNIC agrees with subsection 3.2.3.8, yet we want to make it clear that an announcement will also be made previously on the Policy list once the voting process has concluded.
Recommendations:
We have no recommendations with regard to this proposal.
Impact of the policy on the registry and/or other systems:
The proposal has no impact on the registry system.
This proposal introduces changes to the PDP chair election procedure.
Rationale (Describe the problem you intend to solve)To improve the security of the election process, the current PDP chair election procedure requires some updates, particularly with respect to candidate eligibility and voter requirements.
These concerns refer to the current procedures and have already been discussed in previous policy proposals:
• LAC-2020-9: PDP Chair Election
• LAC-2021-3: PDP Chair Election
As a consequence of these proposals, the chairs convened a working group, whose participants agreed on the text of this proposal.
3.2.2. About the PDP Chairs
o PDP chairs may not be part of the LACNIC staff.
o These positions are honorary.
o PDP chairs must be members of LACNIC or supported by a member of LACNIC
o PDP chairs will each serve a two-year term, with one position up for renewal each year. Unlimited reelection is allowed.
3.2.3. Election of the PDP Chairs
o Calls for nominations will be announced through the public Policy List.
o Anyone subscribed to the public Policy List may participate in the election.
o The election will be conducted immediately before the Public Policy Forum.
o Voting will be conducted electronically, implementing mechanisms to ensure that each subscriber to the list can cast only one vote.
o The winner of the electronic voting process must be ratified at the Public Policy Forum. The acting chairs will ask those in attendance whether they have any objections to the electronic voting process. If any objections are raised, the chairs will evaluate whether such objections are significant. If no objections are raised, or if the chairs consider that the objections are not significant, they will proceed to ratify the winning candidate. Any chair who ran in the election must abstain from participating as chair during the ratification process.
o Elected chairs will begin their term immediately after the closing of the Public Policy Forum during which they were ratified.
o If a winner is not ratified, the LACNIC Board will appoint a chair to fill the vacant position until the next Public Policy Forum. The person thus appointed will only fill the position until the next time an election can be held and a winner is ratified.
3.2.2. About the PDP Chairs
3.2.2.1. Individuals who hold a position at LACNIC (Board of Directors, Electoral Commission or staff) may not stand as candidates to be elected PDP chair. Other potential incompatibilities must be decided by the Electoral Commission.
3.2.2.2. PDP chairs serve in a voluntary and unpaid capacity.
3.2.2.3. Any one of the contacts of a LACNIC member organization or person nominated by such contacts may stand as a candidate to be elected PDP chair.
Candidates must have been subscribed to the public Policy List for at least twelve (12) months prior to the announcement of the election.
3.2.2.4. PDP chairs will each serve a two-year term, with one position up for renewal each year. Unlimited reelection is allowed.
3.2.3. About the election of the PDP Chairs
3.2.3.1. The Board of Directors may delegate its functions related to the election process to an Electoral Commission.
3.2.3.2. Calls for nominations will be announced through the public Policy List.
3.2.3.3. Nominations will include the candidate's biographical information, as well as any other information that may be relevant to the role. The Electoral Commission may request additional information when necessary.
3.2.3.4. Voting will be conducted electronically, using mechanisms to ensure, to the extent possible, that each voter can cast only one vote.
3.2.3.5. Anyone who has been subscribed to the public Policy list for at least six (6) months prior to the announcement of the election may vote.
3.2.3.6. Use of the public Policy list for electoral campaigning is forbidden. Breaches will be dealt with by the Electoral Commission.
3.2.3.7. The election process must be completed before the first Public Policy Forum of the year.
3.2.3.8. The elected chair will be announced during the first Public Policy Forum held after the election and will begin their term immediately after the closing of said Forum.
3.2.3.9. If a candidate is not elected, the LACNIC Board will appoint, as soon as possible, a chair to fill the vacant position until the following Public Policy Forum. The person thus appointed will only serve in their position until the next time an election can be held.
3.2.3.10. This same mechanism will apply if any of the chairs resigns before the end of their term.
3.3. Appeals Regarding the Election Process
3.3.1 Appeals regarding the election process must be addressed to the LACNIC Board, who must resolve them within a maximum of four (4) weeks.
3.3.2. The Board may extend this four-week period, provided that they adequately justify their decision on the Policy mailing list.
3.3.3. The Board may convene a specific committee to advise them on these appeals.
LACNIC must renumber the remaining sections as needed for the correct inclusion of this text.
Timetable-
References-
Presented at:LACNIC 38 (04/10/2022)