Re: [council] Council elections-- Response from the General Counsel's Office

[Stéphane Van Gelder <stephane.vangelder@xxxxxxxxx>]

That conforms to my understanding of the rules, as defined in the current op 
procs, so I am heartened to see I have it right ;)

However, I note that this is not Wolf's understanding, and he Chairs the SCI 
who came up with this wording.

In any case, I think we have no choice but to follow the Gen Counsel's advice.

Councillors, this means that Thomas will:

1. Be eligible to vote in the Chair elections.
2. Remain a member of the CPH when the new Council is seated, whatever the 
outcome of the elections.
3. Remain a voting member of the Council if he is elected Chair.`

I want to thank the General Counsel for bringing this clarity to our election 
process.

Best,

Stéphane Van Gelder
Directeur Général / General manager
INDOM NetNames France
----------------
Registry Relations and Strategy Director
NetNames
T: +33 (0)1 48 01 83 51
F: +33 (0)1 48 01 83 61


Le 9 oct. 2012 à 00:47, Margie Milam <Margie.Milam@xxxxxxxxx> a écrit :

> Dear All, 
>  
> Please find below the response from the General Counsel’s Office pertaining 
> to the questions related to the Council’s elections that were posted to the 
> Council email list earlier today.
>  
> All the Best,
>  
> Margie
> _________
>  
> Margie Milam
> Senior Policy Counselor
> ICANN
> _________
>  
> Hi Margie -
>  
> Based on Article X, Section 3.8 of the Bylaws, The NCA appointed to CPH 
> appears to be considered a member of the CPH.  ("a. the Contracted Parties 
> House includes the Registries Stakeholder Group (three members), the 
> Registrars Stakeholder Group (three members), and one voting member appointed 
> by the ICANN Nominating Committee for a total of seven voting members").
> 
> 
> As I read the ops procedures for the GNSO, the Chair will only be non-voting 
> if the Chair is selected from outside of the houses.  Essentially, the only 
> person who could be on the GNSO Council and outside of the houses is the 
> non-voting NCA.
>  
> Because the NCA to the CPH is a member of a house, that means that if he is 
> elected as Chair, he will not have to give up any voting rights, and no 
> further analysis is needed on whether it is then proper to invoke any of the 
> vacancy provisions within the ops procedures.
>  
> On the issue of whether the NCA to the CPH may vote in the election for which 
> he is being considered as Chair, I don't see anything in the Bylaws or the 
> ops procedure that preclude any of the candidates from voting for themselves. 
>  Each individual candidate may wish to consider if any abstention provision 
> would be applicable to that vote, but there does not appear to be a blanket 
> rule.  In the event that the NCA to the CPH wishes to abstain from the Chair 
> election in which he is a candidate, there does not appear to be an allowance 
> for the NCA to select a proxy in that limited situation. Candidates who are 
> not NCAs probably have the proxy process available to them if they wish to 
> abstain from a vote in which they are a candidate.  This last paragraph 
> should not be read to consider that it is required for candidates to abstain 
> in this situation – this is likely a personal decision, or the Council may 
> have broader views on this topic.
>  
> Best, 
>  
> Sam
>  
>