Dear SIG members

A proposal to modify the APNIC SIG Guidelines relating to the election of SIG Chairs and Co-Chairs was discussed at a joint sitting of all SIGs during APNIC 42 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

https://www.apnic.net/sig-chair-elections/proposed-revision.txt

The proposal did not reach consensus and the joint Chairs returned the proposal to the author for amendment after consideration of the community feedback.

An archive of the joint sitting is available at the following link.

https://conference.apnic.net/42/program#/schedule/day/8/policy-sig-3

More background to this proposal is available at:

https://www.apnic.net/community/participate/sigs/chair-elections

Regards

Adam

------------------------------------------------------- Revising eligible voters of Chair election and Chair's term -------------------------------------------------------

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 several cases, in particular when a current Co-Chair stands for the position of Chair, and Chair election and Co-Chair election occur in same year after that.

From the continuity of Chair-ship, it is more preferable to stagger Chair's and Co-Chair's term.

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 revising SIG Chair's term of service as follows. - Elections occur yearly. Chair elections and Co-Chair elections occur in alternate years (same as current SIG guideline)

- If current Chair/Co-Chair resigned or was removed, the succesor's term should be remaining term of current Chair/Co-Chair

- If Chair election and Co-Chair election are happen in same year from other reasons than resignation or removal shown in above, Co-Chair's (or Co-Chairs') term of service should be one year as Chair's and Co-Chairs' term of service are staggered

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 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

_______________________________________________________ Adam Gosling Senior Internet Policy Analyst, APNIC e: adam@apnic.net p: +61 7 3858 3142 m: +61 421 456 243 t: @bout_policy _______________________________________________________

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