Board of Directors (BoD) election process (Archived - 2014)

 

1. Introduction

According to Section 13 of the AFRINIC by-laws , three Board seats are open for elections every year. Elections  take place during the Annual General Members Meeting (AGMM) that is normally held in the months of May or June. Board seats are numbered from 1 to 9. Seats 1-8 are elected by the community.

 

The election is conducted according to the following sequence:

• Election for seats 1, 2 and 7 (North, West and one Independent).
• Election for seats 3, 4 and 8 (Indian Ocean, Central and One Independent)
• Election for seats 5 and 6 (South and East)

Logistics of running all elections will be managed by the Elections Committee (as defined in Section 10 of the by-laws ). The Chair of the NomCom shall at the same time act as the Chair of the Elections Committee.

 

2. The Election Process

2.1 Eligible Candidates

No person shall be appointed or hold office as a Director if he/she is a person that:

• is under 18 years of age;
• is an undischarged bankrupt;
• would, but for the repeal of Section 117 of the Companies Act 1984 of Mauritius , be prohibited from being a Director or promoter of, or being concerned or taking part in the management of, a company within the meaning of that Act ;
• is prohibited from being a director or promoter of or being concerned or taking part in the management of a company under Sections 337 or 338 of the Act ;
• is not a natural person; or
• has been adjudged to have been of unsound mind.

 

2.2 Eligible Voters

Only organisations and persons fulfilling the following criteria are able to vote:

• Any AFRINIC Resource member in good standing. (Good Standing in this context refers to a member that has signed the AFRINIC Registration Service Agreement and who has no unsettled financial debt with AFRINIC.)
• All Registered Members.
• Appointed Proxies duly approved by the CEO at least 48 hours prior to the Election Day and transmitted to the Chair of the Elections Committee.
• The following voting criteria apply to all candidates:
• A candidate cannot carry a proxy (Section 12.12(ix) of Bylaws ).
• A candidate can carry the votes of the Resources Members they formally represent, having been registered as one of the organisation's contact persons for at least 12 months before the election date or since that organisation's commencement of membership if less than 12 months old. MyAFRINIC will be the source of membership status for all eligible voters.
• Candidate without a valid membership status can not vote.

2.3 Proxies

An organisation that is not able to send a representative to attend the face-to-face meeting can give its voting rights to a proxy (per Sections 12.11 and 12.12 of the AFRINIC bylaws ) by filling the proxy form available from the member's profile within the MyAFRINIC portal . The form must be downloaded, signed and a copy must be sent by e-mail to the  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. not later than 48 hours before the election date. 

An organisation that is not able to send a representative to attend the face-to-face meeting can give its voting rights to a proxy (per Sections 12.11 and 12.12 of the AFRINIC bylaws ) by filling the proxy form available from the member's profile within the MyAFRINIC portal . The form must be downloaded, signed and a copy must be sent by e-mail to the  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. not later than 48 hours before the election date.

• No member entitled to vote shall carry more than 5 proxies during the said election (Ref. section 12.12 (iiiv) of the by-laws).
• No Candidate to the election of Director of the Company shall act as proxy for any member during such an election (Ref. section 12.12(ix) of the by-laws).
• A proxy instrument must be printed on the official and actual letterhead of the Member organization.
• The paper document embodying the proxy instrument must be duly signed by:
  • Either a registered administrative contact of the Member. (For the avoidance of doubt, AFRINIC's database shall be used for counter verification), or:
  • A director of the company, on whose letterhead the paper proxy document has been printed, and whose name is listed on the said letterhead.
• The affixing of Company seals to the paper proxy instruments is not mandatory.
• Members who are natural person and who do not have a letterhead are exempted from the obligation of printing the proxy instrument on a letterhead.

3. Election Timeline

Days to Election	Activity Date	Activity
NOMCOM APPOINTMENT TIMELINE
111	19-Jan-18	Publication and Announcement of the Call for Volunteers
96	03-Feb-18	Closure of the Call for Volunteers; Board review of received volunteers
93	06-Feb-18	Publication and Announcement of Selected Volunteers
91	08-Feb-18	Election of NomCom Chair
91	08-Feb-18	Announcement of Elected NomCom Chair
BOARD NOMINATION & ELECTION TIMELINE
86	13-Feb-18	Open Candidate Nomination Period
56	15-Mar-18	Close Candidate Nomination Period
54	17-Mar-18	Send Received Nominations to Board for Approval
52	19-Mar-18	Board Review & Transmittance of Approved Nominations to NomCOM
50	21-Mar-18	Start Review period of (Board Approved) Nominations
40	31-Mar-18	End Review period of nominations
39	01-Apr-18	Prepare and send final candidate slate to Board for "Review" and "Non-binding advice"
37	03-Apr-18	Board-reviewed slate sent back to NomCom
30	10-Apr-18	Announcement of Final candidate slate & opening of public comments period
13	27-Apr-18	Open e-voting and proxy registration
1	09-May-18	Close of proxy registration & appointment
0	10-May-18	Election day, Close of electronic voting

 

4. How to Nominate

Nominations will be accepted from authorized and registered contact persons of AFRINIC member organizations in good standing.

Self-nominations and nominations by those who are not registered contacts of AFRINIC member organizations are also allowed but with the condition that the nomination must be formally backed by at least two authorized and registered contact persons of an AFRINIC member organization in good standing.

 

5. Verifying Nominations

AFRINIC Staff liaison to the NomCom will verify that all nominations were submitted within the given period and include all the required information.

The Chair of the NomCom should notify nominees and the nominators of the receipt of the nomination. Nominees will at the same time be asked for confirmation of their intent to contest for the seat. Ineligible nominations will be rejected and the nominators and nominees notified separately.

 

6. Finalising the Slate of Candidates

The NomCom will review:

13. a) All completed nominations to verify that the nomination process was followed and;
    b) Nomination forms to determine that all nominees meet the general criteria as defined in section 13.12 of the by-laws (as follows):

• Previous Board or organisational leadership and/or fiduciary experience
• Skills in business management and leadership
• Fund raising for not-for-profit organisations experience
• Network Operations and Internet Services experience
• International Business development Experience.

The NomCom may decide to conduct interviews or further background checks on candidates. The Nomcom may impose additional requirements over and above those mentioned on the process page, and these additional requirements are documented in the call for nominations.The Chair of the NomCom will decide the means to be used for such further evaluation, in which case, a report must be provided to the Staff and the NomCom. The Chairman of the NomCom will then forward the slate of candidates to AFRINIC Staff composing the Election Committee for publication online.

7. Notification of Candidates

The NomCom Chair will send a final slate of candidates via e-mail to:

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The CEO will forward the final slate of candidates via e-mail to all members’ contacts separately.
The candidate list and biographical information is simultaneously posted on the Elections section of the AFRINIC website. The website will provide an online channel for any one to comment on (and direct questions to) the candidates during the period prior to the opening of voting (including e-voting).

All candidates will be given the opportunity to present themselves to the general membership in a brief speech during the AGM prior to the paper voting. This presentation can be in person, through the AFRINIC meeting remote participation system or by a pre-recorded video. It is highly advisable that candidates physically attend the AFRINIC AGMM where the election will take place.

 

8. Withdrawal of Nomination

A candidate may withdraw his/her nomination by notifying the NomCom Chair at least 7 days before the start of the electronic voting period. The withdrawal notification must be submitted by either the nominator or the candidate. In any case, both the nominee and the candidate must be informed to verify and confirm the withdrawal before it can be formally accepted.

 

9. Voting

Votes can be cast electronically or by a paper ballot.

9.1 Electronic Voting

The electronic voting platform is integrated into the MyAfriNIC portal , and will be accessible only to members in good standing. The following will apply to e-voting:

• Starts at least 7 days before AGMM date.
• Ends at 08:00 UTC the day of the AGMM.
• “Trustees” that are setup to unlock and tally the e-vote system shall consist of the AFRINIC CEO, NomCom Chair, a representative from the other RIRs (or the NRO) and the AFRINIC Legal Counsel.
• E-votes are tallied using the e-voting tallying system. Results are kept in a sealed envelope signed by all the trustees and opened at the end of the tally of the paper ballot. The total of the two results will constitute the final results.

9.2 Paper Ballot on Election Day

The voting conducted during the Annual General Members' Meeting is carried out via paper ballots containing a list of candidate names and a ballot number. Prior to the vote, all members present or participants holding a proxy will be requested to register and validate their membership status.

Voters should only vote for one candidate per category/region. Each mark on a ballot paper represents one vote. A ballot with more than one mark per category/region will be considered spoilt, and not be counted.

The ballot paper should provide voters with the option to not vote for any candidate (a.k.a. "None of the Above").

This will be a secret ballot election. An inclusion of any personal data on the ballot paper will invalidate the vote and will be counted as spoilt.

Elections will be closed as soon as the last member or proxy present in the meeting room casts his/her vote. Candidates with the highest number of votes in each category will be declared winners.

In the event of a tie for an open position, voting for that position will be repeated (Only by paper ballot) the same day until there is a winner.

All open positions shall be subject to an election process even if there is only one candidate. In that event, if the option [none of the above] got more votes than the only candidate, then the seat shall be considered vacant and the Board will be requested to apply provisions of the Bylaws to temporarily fill the vacant seat.

 

9.3 Vote Counting and Announcement of Election Results

A representative of the NomCom, and members of the Election Committee present during the AGMM, in addition to not more than four (4) volunteers from the other RIRs present, shall count the paper votes to determine the winners.

The Chair of the NomCom will announce the election results after the full vote count including the e-voting results with the vote detail for only the elected candidates.

The CEO shall send the final results by e-mail not more than 48 hours after the election to:

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The election results shall be simultaneously published on the AFRINIC website.