Dear SIG members
A proposal to modify the APNIC SIG Guidelines relating to the election
of SIG Chairs and Co-Chairs has been submitted for consideration at
APNIC 42 im Colombo, Sri Lanka.
https://www.apnic.net/sig-chair-elections/proposed-revision.txt
If agreed. these changes will affect all APNIC SIGs from APNIC 43 in Ho
Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Discussion and call for consensus will take place in the Policy SIG.
https://www.apnic.net/mailinglists
If successful in the Policy SIG, a consensus call will be made at the
APNIC Member Meeting. There will be no final Comment Period.
To ensure those not travelling to APNIC 42 are able to participate in
the discussion, you are invited to comment on the Policy SIG Mailing
List before the conference.
More background to this proposal is available at:
https://www.apnic.net/community/participate/sigs/chair-elections
Regards
Adam
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Revising eligible voters of Chair election and Chair's term
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Proposer: Masato Yamanishi
myamanis@gmail.com
1. Problem statement
--------------------
1. Eligible voters in SIG Chair election
In current SIG guidelines, we have no rule or guideline about eligible
voters in SIG Chair election and we have two issues by the lack of such
rule.
Firstly, we need to have clear guideline whether remote participants
have voting rights for SIG Chair election since current practice is
different in each election.
Secondary, it can be used by fraud, like hijacking the position of Chair
agaist the Community by inviting many persons who never attend the
community discussion.
2. SIG Chair's term of service
While SIG guidelines says "Elections occur yearly. Chair elections and
Co-Chair elections occur in alternate years.", both elections were held
at same meeting in many cases, in particular when a current Co-Chair
stand for the position of Chair. With this current practice having both
elections at same meeting, we are not seeing any significant issues for
long time.
In addition, there is no alternative condition for the successor's term
if current Chair/Co-Chair resigned or was removed though such
alternative condition is necessary to maintain staggered term as
requested by SIG guideline. (a.k.a. the successor's term of service is
same as remaining term of resigned or removed Chair)
2. Objective of policy change
-----------------------------
The objective is preventing confusions related to remote participant as
well as mitigating possible frauds in SIG Chair election by setting
clear rule for eligible voters.
In addition, we can also expect aligning SIG guideline with current
practice as well as resolving unclearness of the successor's term when
current Chair/Co-Chair resigned or was removed by revising SIG Chair's
term of service.
3. Situation in other regions
-----------------------------
Please refer following page made by Adam Gosling
Comparison of RIR SIG/WG Chair Election Processes
https://www.apnic.net/sig-guidelines/chair-elections/other-rirs
4. Proposed policy solution
---------------------------
1. Eligible voters in SIG Chair election
I would like to propose limiting eligible voters of SIG Chair election
to registered participants of APNIC Conference where the election is
held.
In this context, registered participants include remote participants who
register to Confer, or its successor in future.
2. SIG Chair's term of service
I would like to propose aligning Chair' term with Co-Chair's term, which
means that Chair and all Co-Chair will serve for same two years.
To keep this alighment, I would like to propose limiting the successor's
term to remaining term of current Chair/Co-Chair if current
Chair/Co-Chair resigned or was removed.
5. Advantages / Disadvantages
-----------------------------
Advantages:
By setting clear rule for eligible voters,
- we can avoid confusion whether remote participant cast vote for SIG
Chair election or not
- we can mitigate frauds in SIG Chair election
By revising SIG Chair's term of service
- we can resolve a conflict between SIG guideline and current practice
- we can resolve unclearness of the successor's term when current
Chair/Co-Chair resigned or was removed
Disadvantages:
APNIC staff may need to spend some additional time to confirm whether
each voter is registered participants.
There is no disadvantage by revising SIG Chair's term of service.
6. Impact on resource holders
-----------------------------
No direct impact
7. References
-------------
Chair Election Procedure Review by Adam Gosling
https://www.apnic.net/community/participate/sigs/chair-elections
Comparison of RIR SIG/WG Chair Election Processes
https://www.apnic.net/sig-guidelines/chair-elections/other-rirs
APNIC SIG Guidelines
https://www.apnic.net/community/participate/sigs/sig-guidelines
