AFRINIC Election Process Work
The AFRINIC election process is at the heart of the organisation’s legitimacy and effectiveness. It ensures that diverse voices are heard and promotes accountability, ensuring that elected leaders shape AFRINIC’s policies, resource management strategies, and operational frameworks to meet the needs of the African Internet community. It also amplifies Africa’s voice in the realm of Internet governance by embracing inclusiveness, transparency, and active community engagement.
AFRINIC’s policy development process involves the membership and the broader community through face-to-face Public Policy Meetings, mailing list discussions, and other means. All of these activities are fully transparent to AFRINIC’s community and members. This allows them to effectively participate in the process and contribute their ideas and expertise. It also helps to reduce opportunities for capture by a single interest group.
According to the afrinic election Bylaws, NomCom is responsible for selecting and presenting a list of candidates for Board elections, and for any other election that may be required under the Bylaws. Before finalising the list of candidates, NomCom may ask for non-binding advice from the AFRINIC Board, but it is ultimately the responsibility of NomCom to decide who to put forward as candidates.
How Does the AFRINIC Election Process Work?
As part of its role, NomCom will conduct background checks on potential candidates and interview them on request. This will help to ensure that the AFRINIC community is able to make informed decisions about who should represent them on the Board. The candidate’s eligibility to stand for election and their competence and capability to do so are also important considerations.
Once a nomination has been submitted, it must be approved by the NomCom before it can proceed to the balloting phase. The NomCom will then publish a call for votes, and all Resources Members in good standing are eligible to vote for the candidates of their choice. Voting is done online via the MyAFRINIC portal. During the election period, the portal will display a list of candidates with their information and a button that says ‘Vote in this Election’. By clicking on this button, voters will be taken to the e-voting system where they can vote by entering their member and proxy IDs.
All e-votes will be counted and tallied by the AFRINIC e-voting tallying system. Results will be signed by the trustees (AFRINIC CEO, NomCom Chair, and AFRINIC Legal Counsel) and posted on the AFRINIC website. Those voting on-site during the AFRINIC Annual General Members’ Meeting (AGMM) will receive paper ballots containing a list of candidate names. The AFRINIC election committee staff will apply a stamp and signature to each ballot paper prior to distribution. Any ballot papers without a valid stamp and signature will not be counted. All disputes arising from the election will be resolved in accordance with the AFRINIC Bylaws. In the event of a tie, the election will be repeated until there is a clear winner. All results will be announced on the AFRINIC website and at the AGMM. The AFRINIC Election Committee has published a detailed guide to the process for those who wish to learn more about how to participate.
