PDWG Election [background conversation] 01:00 Ernest Byaruhanga: Okay, welcome back, everybody, from the coffee break. The next on the agenda are two items. The first one is the election of the vacant co-chair of the Policy Development Working Group. So this is a bit different from the first one that we did in the morning. There are co-chairs. The one that was done in the morning is to complete the term of the co-chair that resigned, but ordinarily, today, we're supposed to do an election for one of the co-chairs of the Working Group. And I would like to call the Chair of the Nominations Committee, Dr. Boubakar Barry, to quickly guide us through the process, and after that, we shall do a quick election of that. Thank you Dr. Boubakar. [background conversation] [foreign language] 02:27 Barry Boubakar: I will speak in French. [foreign language] 02:36 Barry Boubakar: Good afternoon everybody, we are here for the session for the election of the Vice President of the Working Group for Policy Development. I represent NomCom as a Chairman. [pause] 03:02 Barry Boubakar: Well, I am in NomCom with three other colleagues, and you see there the process that has led to the appointment of our committee. I am with Mustapha Ben Jemaa, and Aminata Garba who represent the Board of the Directors, they are with me, and I chair this committee and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Board for their trust and for the opportunity they have given us to serve the community. Well, with the, to NomCom, the terms of reference you can access that through the AfriNIC site. Our terms of reference, what is asked to us is to write the statutes of the association in 932. 04:12 Barry Boubakar: Now, with regard the co-chairmans of the Workin Group, it's mainly to prepare the meetings. We discussed the policy developments, we prepare the meetings to submit the reports for the Board of Directors and inform them on any ratification of the policies, and if necessary, we evaluate emergencies that require a process that is different from the usual process to be, of course, considered by the Board of Directors. 05:00 Barry Boubakar: Now, these are the dates, the call for... The nomination was launched on May 3, 2015, and the deadline was May 12th, and the list of candidatures that were short-listed was published on May 15th, little more than two weeks. Now, the criteria for the nomination were published. I will go very rapidly with regard to this criteria. First, the nominees must chair in countries covered by AfriNIC. They should not be part of AfriNIC personnel, or personnel of other regional registers. 06:02 Barry Boubakar: The nomination must be made by members who are regular in AfriNIC, but there are also possibilities of self-nominations by the others interested themselves and they should be supported by two members of the association. Well, we have received two nominations during the period during which nomination could be sent to the committee, and these two nominations are Seun from Egypt, and ____ Afalat from Tunisia... From Nigeria and from Tunisia. These two nominations then were validated, so they met all of the criteria, and list was published on May 15th. 07:17 Barry Boubakar: And today, up to this morning, there were two candidates, but we have received two or three hours ago, information that Khaled Koubaa has withdrawn his candidacy, and he supports the candidacy of Seun. So right now, we only have one candidate for the vacant position. The term for... The mandate is for two years, that is June 2015 to June 2017. We will then immediately proceed to elections to then fill this position, this vacant position, and it will be done by the election committee. I will give the floor to Ernest later on to continue the process, but before that, I would like to ask Seun to come and introduce himself to the community. And thank you. [applause] 08:41 Seun Ojedeji: Thank you very much, Dr. Boubakar. Hello, everyone. Thank you for the support. First, I would like to thank Khaled, who has shown a strong support for my nomination by actually, also supporting in the manner he has done. I really feel honoured, and I would like to let him know and also let the entire members of the community know that I will ensure to follow the principles, and to uphold the principles guiding the Policy Development Working Group. Nothing will change in my statement in relation to what I said in my first term. I will continue in that line, and I pray, God help me, and I'm also asking that, don't see me as an experienced ____, I'll still require your support. It's your support that actually helped me during my first term. I am saying this because I am assuming that I will be elected, so I do hope that I'll receive the support from you. Thank you very much. [applause] 10:23 Barry Boubakar: Thank you very much, Dr. Boubakar, and Seun. So we have one candidate so far, and the rules that it is supposed to be a show of hands, that is what is defined in the election process for the election of the Policy Development Working Group co-chairs, and 2. Anybody present in the room is assumed to be part of the Policy Development Working Group and can participate, apart from AfriNIC staff. So we're going to do the election now. Seun has spoken, you've heard him and you've seen him. I am going to ask those who think that Seun should continue serving the Policy Development Working Group, put your hands up. Okay. Although, it's supposed to be a vote, and I'm supposed to count, but I do believe that this looks like it's the majority. [background conversation] 11:37 Barry Boubakar: Now, those that are against Seun's candidature and not think that Sean should not continue serving as the co-chair of the PDWG, put your hands up. [background conversation] 11:56 Barry Boubakar: And any abstentions? Those who think Seun... Those who do not know Seun very much, who, bullish about whether he should continue or not continue, hands up. Abstentions. Okay, no abstentions. So, Sean, congratulations. [applause] 12:20 Barry Boubakar: You have another two-year mandate as the Co-Chair of the PDWG. And I believe we had one more item in the policy sessions for today, which is the open policy hour, so you feel free to come and... You and Barry, continue sharing. Thank you. [applause]