WRI Council Elections 2002: How To Vote

Please read this paper carefully.

Make sure it reaches the WRI representative in your organisation, and/or the person who will be representing you at the Triennial.

Who is running for the WRI Council elections?

Of all the candidates nominated by WRI sections, 11 have accepted to run for elections. Although the constitution states that 12 Council members need to be elected, there are not enough candidates to do so. In addition, it is likely that the constitution will be changed to "up to 12".

In this election, all candidates who receive at least one vote will be elected. Candidates who don't receive any votes won't be elected.

Most candidates have sent us brief statements, which will be translated into English, French, Spanish and German; the English version can be downloaded as a pdf document or read in html (without candidates' pictures). The English language version is enclosed in this mailing, with candidates being listed in alphabetical order. Candidates have been asked to indicate whether they would accept to serve on WRI's Executive Committee if elected.

Who can vote?

1. Sections: Votes are allocated according to the number of members:
   
   1. Less than 500 - 2 votes
   2. Between 500 and 999 - 3 votes
   3. Between 1,000 and 2,999 - 4 votes
   4. Over 2,999 - 5 votes
2. Associate Organisations: All associate organisations are allocated 2 votes.
3. Associate Publications: All associate publications are allocated 1 vote.

How can WRI Affiliates vote?

a) For affiliates represented at the 2002 Triennial conference:

The Council election will take place at the upcoming Triennial conference in Dublin, Ireland, and the representatives of WRI affiliates will cast their ballots during the week of 3-11 August 2002.

The election will be held in one round – up to 11 candidates are elected. Ballot papers will be distributed to the affiliate representatives in Dublin.

In order for a "listening committee" to have enough time to work out a proposal for a new Executive team, elections will be held during the open conference. Although the final scheduling still has to be fine tuned and changes might be made, the WRI Executive proposes to proceed as follows:

• Joanne Sheehan (WRI's Chair) will take responsibility for the election process during the Triennial, together with one other person chosen at the meeting of the outgoing Council, on 4 August, during which the election process will be explained. Two other persons will be appointed to count votes (tellers).
• An announcement giving the time for handing over the ballots will be made at the morning plenary on Monday, 5 August 2002.
• A person will be designated to answer questions from affiliate representatives about elections (in programme breaks) and questions about council elections will also be answered during the "WRI for beginners" workshop, which will be held on Monday afternoon, 5 August 2002.
• The voting should take place on Tuesday, 6 August 2002, during lunch time and the votes counted in public (but outside of the main programme).
• The election results will be briefly announced during the morning plenary on Wednesday morning.

b)For affiliates who CANNOT be represented at the Triennial conference:

You will have the possibility to vote by mail. Please note that postal ballots will NOT be sent to you automatically; you should REQUEST yours form the WRI office as soon as possible.

VERY IMPORTANT: Any postal ballot should be returned to the office no later than 31 July 2002.

How will the new Executive Committee be chosen?

Working on the Executive requires a certain empathy and balance (gender, political, types of work, and geography) among its members. In order to achieve this, a small "listening committee" will be appointed by the outgoing Council, on 4 August 2002. Once the results of the Council elections are known, the listening committee will talk with Council members willing to serve on the Executive -- both those elected internationally and section representatives -- and sound out the view of others. The committee will then present a proposal for a new Executive team to the new Council, at the meeting on 10 August 2002. Council will make the final decision about the composition of the new Executive Committee.