SEEDIG Executive Committee: Partial elections 2021

The Executive Committee is the body responsible for coordinating the SEEDIG process, which includes SEEDIG annual meetings and the related preparatory steps, as well as intersessional activities.

The duties of the Executive Committee are outlined in the body’s Terms of Reference (ToR):

✔️ Coordinating the preparatory process for SEEDIG annual meetings, including, but not limited to, logistics (including location and relations with the host entity), finances, programme planning, and reporting.

✔️ Attending SEEDIG annual meetings and coordinating logistics on site, together with the host.

✔️ Coordinating the planning and execution of SEEDIG intersessional activities.

✔️ Managing SEEDIG finances, and actively exploring new sponsorship opportunities for SEEDIG.

✔️ Managing SEEDIG’s communication tools (website, social media channels, etc.) and ensuring they are kept up to date with information regarding the SEEDIG process.

✔️ Initiating and coordinating outreach activities aimed at promoting SEEDIG and bringing new stakeholders into the SEEDIG process.

✔️ Consulting the SEEDIG community on all significant matters related to the SEEDIG process, and ensuring that the views of the SEEDIG community are integrated, to the largest extent possible, in the preparatory process for SEEDIG annual meetings, as well as in SEEDIG intersessional activities.

✔️ Ensuring that the core principles of the SEEDIG process – open, inclusive, bottom-up, and transparent – are fully complied with throughout all SEEDIG activities.

✔️ Ensuring continuous communication with SEEDIG sponsors, partners, and supporting organisations.

Being a member of the SEEDIG Executive Committee is not as much of a privilege as it is a responsibility. And it involves quite a lot of work, as detailed in the duties of the committee. Few important points to keep in mind:

✔️ Members are accountable to one another and to the SEEDIG community. The community has the power to remove individual members or recall the entire committee.

✔️ Each member is responsible for carrying on specific activities, in line with the committee’s duties.

✔️ Each member is expected and commits to dedicate an average of 5-6 working hours/week to SEEDIG activities. The actual amount of work fluctuates during a SEEDIG cycle, and considerably increases around the annual meeting (to up to 10 hours/week or even more).

✔️ At the moment, the position of SEEDIG Executive Committee member is voluntary and does not involve remuneration.

✔️ Members act in line with the provisions of the ToR.

This partial election process is for two (2) seats on the Executive Committee.

In line with Art.2.1. of the ToR, members of the Executive Committee shall serve for a term of two years. 

SEEDIG Executive Committee elections are open to any member of the SEEDIG community* who meets the following criteria:

✔️ Is a national or a resident of a country in South Eastern Europe and the neighbouring area**.

✔️ Demonstrates prior engagement with SEEDIG.

✔️ Has been actively involved in Internet governance processes and/or organisations.

Nominations are invited from all stakeholder groups: civil society, academia, private sector, technical community, governments, and intergovernmental organisations.

When submitting nominations, the SEEDIG community is invited to consider the overall need for the Executive Committee, in its new composition, to reflect stakeholder, country and gender diversity. More specifically:

✔️ In line with the ToR, the composition of the Executive Committee should reflect stakeholder, country, and gender diversity:

✔️ Minimum three (3), but preferably four (4) stakeholder groups are represented on the committee.

✔️ Preferably, each member represents a different country. In exceptional cases, there could be a maximum of two members from the same country.

✔️ There is gender balance among the members.

* Membership of the SEEDIG community is determined by voluntary participation in the dedicated SEEDIG mailing list and/or in SEEDIG activities. More about the SEEDIG community on the dedicated page.

** The following countries/territories are at least occasionally represented in SEEDIG activities and can be considered part of South Eastern Europe and the neighbouring area: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo*, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine.

Members of the SEEDIG community can nominate themselves or other eligible members.

Once a nomination is submitted, several steps follow:

✔️ All (self)nominations are reviewed by the Election Committee, with a view to determine if they are complete and the candidates meet the eligibility criteria. In the case of incomplete (self)nominations, the Election Committee contacts the nominator and asks for the missing information to be submitted within a determined timeline. If the missing information is not submitted by the indicated deadline, the nomination is deemed incomplete, and will not be considered during the election process.

✔️ In the case of eligible nominations, the nominees will be asked to indicate whether they accept the nominations.

✔️ (Self)nominations which are complete and meet the eligibility criteria are published on the SEEDIG website, on an ongoing basis, during the nomination period.

✔️ Once a candidate is deemed eligible (and, in the case of nominations, after having accepted the nomination), he/she is contacted by the Election Committee and asked to submit two additional documents, within the nomination period:

✔️ A candidate statement

✔️ A transparency statement

Once deemed eligible by the Election Committee, candidates are asked to submit:

✔️ A candidate statement, outlining the candidate’s vision for SEEDIG over the following two years, and his/her expected contribution to achieving SEEDIG’s objectives.

✔️ A transparency statement, indicating all other Internet governance processes and/or organisations the candidate is involved with, on a voluntary or paid basis.

These statements are published on the SEEDIG website, together with the nomination forms.

Candidates who fail to submit these statements during the nomination period will not be considered during the election process.

As per the ToR, nationals and/or residents of countries in South Eastern Europe and the neighbouring area who are members of the dedicated SEEDIG mailing list at the date when the election cycle starts are eligible to vote, and shall be considered voting members of the SEEDIG community. A list of voting members will be distributed via the SEEDIG mailing list and published on the SEEDIG website, at least one week before the start of the voting period. 

For the purpose of creating the list of voting members, the Election Committee will invite members of the dedicated SEEDIG mailing list to register as voting members, via an online form. They will also be asked to indicate whether they agree with their names being included in the public list of voting members. 

The Election Committee may contact registering members if additional information is required to determine voting rights. 

Individuals who register as voting members and meet the voting rights criteria will receive voting ballots and will be able to vote during the voting period.

Voting will be conducted via online means, and relevant information will be shared with voting members before the start of the voting period.

The voting period will last 10 days.

The Election Committee shall announce the initial results of the voting process (including information on the number of votes casted, the number of valid votes for each candidate, the number of abstentions and invalid votes), within 48 hours from the closing of the voting period.

The initial results may trigger different actions:

✔️ The first two candidates receiving the most votes during the voting process become members of the Executive Committee, provided that the diversity criteria mentioned above are met.

✔️ If the diversity criteria are not met by the simple results of the voting process, the Election Committee will propose two Executive Committee members whose addition to the Executive Committee reflects the diversity criteria while taking into account the results of the vote to the largest extent possible. This proposal is subject to review and approval by the SEEDIG community, in line with Art.6 Section F of the ToR.

The calendar of the election process is available on this webpage.