WFEO Rules of Procedures – Elections Procedures – Discussion Paper Draft 19 February 2018 1. Introduction This paper provides background to issues arising from WFEO Election procedures and proposes a more robust and less time consuming process for election. The WFEO election procedures are currently provided in WFEO Rules of Procedures (RoP) clauses 2.5 c,d, and e and in Attachment B. For completeness and to avoid gaps in the processes, the entire procedure will be contained in WFEO RoP Attachment B. Proposed changes are shown in Attachment 1 in red font. The main change is in the process of election using a Single Transferrable Voting System as is currently in use in many professional institutions around the world. 2. Discussion of issues 2.1 Nominations Committee: The role of the Nominations Committee is to be clarified with respect to the election process. The Nominations Committee is appointed by the WFEO Executive Board to oversee the election process. It is important that: 1. The Nominations Committee meets to review the nominations and confirm that all candidates have submitted the appropriate documentation by the due date 2. A report is prepared by the Nominations Committee to the Executive Board, Executive Council and the General Assembly on their oversight of the election nomination process 3. There is transparency and adherence to the Rules of Procedure in the process of nominating candidates and their election 4. Every member of the Nominations Committee must exercise due diligence and is responsible for reviewing every candidates’ documentation and confirming their accuracy and completeness. 5. Members of the Nominations Committee may raise queries with the President and/or the Executive Board on issues of due process if these are not addressed satisfactorily within the committee meeting. 6. Under French Law, where WFEO is registered, it is important that the RoP states the authority and duties of the Nominations Committee and the Chair including: a) Responsibility (through the report) for informing the members of the qualified candidates to vacant positions; b) Responsibility to inform the members of the list of qualified voters and accepted proxies at the General Assembly; c) the Chair, supported by members of the Nominations Committee, is given full authority from the Executive Board to control and manage the election process, to ensure that it in accordance with the ROP and the Constitution. d) In order to execute the mission of the election process, the Chair and the Nominations Committee has the full resources of the WFEO Secretariat. 1 e) The Chair must receive reports of all potential incidents, mistakes, frauds or anything affecting the election process before the election and during the election. These need to be reported to the Executive Board (as a whole) as soon as practicable. f) For good governance, during the election process, the Nomination Committee must act collectively in their decision making and must act absolutely independently of the Executive Board. g) At the end of the election process, the Chair, supported by the Nomination Committee, formally validates all elections results. If it is not possible to validate one or more election results, the specific election will be declared invalid and the process shall start again. 2.2 Positions for Election: The following positions are usually open for election: A. Election for President-Elect (one Vacancy, any number of Candidates) B. Election for Executive Vice President (one Vacancy, any number of Candidates, including some/none of the unsuccessful candidates from A – with appropriately completed nomination papers) C. Election for National Members for Executive Council (up to 8 Vacancies, any number of Candidates, including some/none of the unsuccessful candidates from A and B with appropriately completed nomination papers) D. (Possible Election for a number of International Members for Executive Council) It should be mandatory that every candidate provides completed nomination papers by the due date for every position that he/she is seeking to nominate. This includes two letters of support from national members in good standing for each positon for which the candidate is nominating. No changes are proposed to: a) The schedule for the election, i.e. the schedule for the call for nominations, review by the nomination committee and declaration of eligible candidates b) The procedure for support by two National Member in good standing, different from the nominating National Member c) the number of positions that the same candidate can nominate for. Candidates may nominate for Position A, if eligible, if unsuccessful they may be a candidate for Position B if eligible, if unsuccessful they pay be a candidate for Position C Candidates are representatives of member organisations The members of the Executive Board are representatives of the National Members. The members of the Executive Council are representatives of the National and International Members. It is therefore essential that: a) All candidates for election must be duly authorised representatives of the National Member Organisation. 2 i. The candidate must be nominated by the National Member and must be a duly authorised representative of the National member. ii. The Nomination process requires that the candidate must provide written agreement to be nominated. iii. Once elected, the representative of the National Member must serve the full term of the positon. All representatives of International Members that are members of the Executive Council must: i. be duly authorised representatives of the International member. ii. The International member must be in good standing as defined in Constitution., Article 8, Sec. D, to be a member of the Executive Council. iii. At present, the representatives of the International Member are not elected and are nominated by their organisation. They will be required to serve a two-year term. iv. Every International member is required to confirm their representative prior to each General Assembly. The agreement of the representatives and the biography of the representative must be provided according to the schedule provided in the RoP. 2.3 The Election Method/Voting System: The background to the issues arising from the current WFEO election procures is provided in Attachment 3. The processes of the General Assembly in Rome 2017 demonstrated that a more efficient process is needed. A Single Transferable Voting System is widely used by many professional engineering institutions and is proposed for WFEO. This addresses the problems identified under the current system. Voting can be conducted in a single round even where there are multiple candidates and counting can be done by hand. This system has been recommended by the Chair of the Nominations Committee 2013-2017, Prof. Paul Jowitt. The background paper by Prof. Jowitt and the options that were presented to the Executive Board in November 2017 is shown in Attachment 3. An example of the Single Transferrable Voting System as used by Engineers Australia is shown in Attachment 2. Many other professional institutions use this system for both manual and electronic voting. 2.4 The Ballot Procedure It is proposed that the counting method will remain manual as there is usually a small number of candidates and positions for election. See Attachment 1 The voting process will continue to be manual using paper ballots. Each elector ranks the candidates in order of preference. Most preferred = 1 etc. Ranking is only as far as the electors wish. 2.5 Nomination procedures The procedures for nominations have been clarified in the proposed amendments. Strong oversight and reporting by the Nominations Committee is essential for transparency and a robust process. See Attachment 1 3 2.6 Eligibility to be Nominated Candidates for election must be duly authorised representatives of their National member organisation. Representatives of International Members at the Executive Council must be duly authorised members of their organisation. See Attachment 1 2.7 Eligibility to Vote Federations Members must be in good standing as required by the WFEO Constitution. However, dues must be paid at least four weeks before the start of the General Assembly. 2.8 Proxy Votes. No change is proposed to the number of proxy votes, currently two per National Member. However, Proxies must be provided on the prescribed form and advised at least 7 days before the start of the General Assembly. See Attachment 1 4 ATTACHMENT 1 PROPOSED MODIFICATIONS TO THE WFEO RULES OF PROCEDURE It is proposed that the following clause 2.5(c), (d) and (e) be replaced as follows: Changes are shown in red font. Existing Clauses: 2.5 c A secret ballot is required: in the election of Officers and Members of the Executive Council; and when requested by at least five Federation Members. 2.5 d In the event of a ballot where the number of candidates is greater than the number of positions to be filled, voting will be held in a series of rounds. The ballot for each round will include the instruction: “Carefully draw a circle around the (number of open positions) names you are voting for; you may vote for less, but voting for more will invalidate your ballot.” The person whose name receives the number of votes that is more than 50% of the number of voters on that round is elected. The name of any person elected and the name receiving the least votes will be eliminated in further ballot rounds. Voting by rounds continues until each open position is filled. In any round resulting in a tie the President will cast the deciding vote given in a sealed envelope to the officer conducting the election prior to that vote. 2.5 e Proxies may be used for voting during meetings of the General Assembly. The Federation Member (not attending the GA) giving its proxy and the other Federation Member (attending the GA) exercising the proxy must be Federation Members in good standing.