[Community-Discuss] Faulty result for Western Africa in AfriNIC AGMM Elections

[Bope Christian]

Dear AFRINIC Members and Community,

There has been much discussion about the results of the elections held during the AGMM on 10 May 2018, and associated processes.

I will try to answer these questions:

What is the election process?
What happened in previous years?
What happened in 2018?
What does the election process says about the “None of the above” option?
How should the result be interpreted when “None of the above” receives the most votes?
Does AFRINIC have an election appeal process?
Should the result stand as previously announced?
What are the future actions?

## What is the Election Process?

The Election Process (sometimes called the election guidelines) is approved by the Board in terms of the Bylaws article 13.2:

13.2.	The election of the Directors of the company shall be carried out in line with the Election process approved by the Board.

The current Election Process was revised and approved by the Board in 2014 (Resolutions 201404.196 and 201411.218), and is published at <https://afrinic.net/en/community/elections/bod-election/process <https://afrinic.n/>>.
Under section 9.2, the following bullet points appear (the bullet numbers are not in the original):

[1] •	Voters should only vote for one candidate per category/region. Each mark on a ballot paper represents one vote. A ballot with more than one mark per category/region will be considered spoilt, and not be counted.

[2] •	The ballot paper should provide voters with the option to not vote for any candidate (a.k.a. "None of the Above").

[3] •	This will be a secret ballot election. An inclusion of any personal data on the ballot paper will invalidate the vote and will be counted as spoilt.

[4] •	Elections will be closed as soon as the last member or proxy present in the meeting room casts his/her vote. Candidates with the highest number of votes in each category will be declared winners.

[5] •	In the event of a tie for an open position, voting for that position will be repeated (Only by paper ballot) the same day until there is a winner.

[6] •	All open positions shall be subject to an election process even if there is only one candidate. In that event, if the option [none of the above] got more votes than the only candidate, then the seat shall be considered vacant and the Board will be requested to apply provisions of the Bylaws to temporarily fill the vacant seat.

## What happened in previous years?

The option to vote for “None of the above” has appeared on AFRINIC Board election ballots every year since 2013. In 2017, the final computed results contained scores for the “None of the above” option. Since those scores did not make “none of the above” the winner, they were not mentioned in the announcement of results published at <https://afrinic.net/en/news/2139-results-of-afrinic-agmm-election <https://afrinic.net/en/news/2139-results-of-afrinic-agmm-election>>

## What happened in 2018?

Three AFRINIC Board seats were up for election at the AGMM on 10 May 2018.  For all three seats, “None of the above” received the most votes, and as a consequence, the seats have remained vacant for the time being.  This was the first time that ”None of the above” received the most votes for any Board seat.  The result was announced during the AGMM and later published at  < https://afrinic.net/en/news/2391-results-of-afrinic-agmm-elections >

## What does the election process say about the “None of the above” option?

Bullet point 2 in the election process specifies that “None of the above” should appear as a choice for all seats, not only for seats where there is only one candidate.

Bullet point 4 in the election process specifies that the candidate with the highest number of votes will be the winner.  However, it is silent about what happens if the highest number of votes goes to “None of the above” instead of a candidate.

Bullet point 6 in the election process specifies what happens when “None of the above” gets the highest number of votes in an election with only one candidate, but is silent about seats with multiple candidates.

In summary, the election process is clear about what happens in an election with one candidate when “None of the above” wins, but is silent about what happens in an election with more than one candidate when “None of the above” wins.

## How should the result be interpreted when “None of the above” receives the most votes?

It is a widely-accepted principle that, if a written process is silent on some point, then the intent should be considered.

The intended meaning of the “None of the above” option is clear in the case of an election with only one candidate: bullet point 6 states that, if “None of the above” gets the most votes, then the seat remains vacant.

In an election with multiple candidates, we have already seen that bullet point 2 requires a “None of the above” option, but it is silent about what happens if that option receives the most votes.  Some people have argued that the seat should remain vacant (pointing to the intent behind bullet point 6), and some have argued that the winner should be the candidate other than “None of the above” who received the most votes (pointing to the text of bullet point 4).

The fact that bullet point 2 explicitly requires a “None of the above” option for all seats, suggests that the intention was for “None of the above” to have a meaning different from an abstention.  After all, if voting for “None of the above” was intended to have the same meaning as an abstention, then there would be no need for a “None of the above” option on the ballot, and voters could simply abstain from voting for that seat.

## Does AFRINIC have an election appeal process?

There isn’t any documented process for appealing the result of an AFRINIC Board election. The committee handling the election (Nomination committee and Election committee) should make sure that the election guideline is explain clearly to members before the process start in order to avoid misinterpretation

## Should the result stand as previously announced?

The Board recognises the objections that were raised a few days after the election, on Wednesday 16 May 2018, but notes that no objections were raised on the day of the election, Thursday 10 May 2018.  The Board has decided that the results stand as they were announced immediately after the votes were counted.  That means that the affected seats remain vacant for the time being.

## What are the future actions?

The Board recognises that the process does not make it clear what happens when “None of the above” receives the most votes in an election with multiple candidates.  The Board would like to encourage the committee handling the election in future to ensure that members understand the election guidelines before voting starts. Furthermore, the Board intends to review the election process for future elections which will include a public consultation. The Board will also consider an appeal process during the review of the guideline

The Board intends to fill the vacant seats in terms of the Bylaws article 13.14.  To this end, the Board has called for expressions of interest; see <https://www.afrinic.net/en/news/2395-filling-of-the-casual-vacancies <https://www.afrinic.net/en/news/2395->>.  The seats to be filled are the three seats that were included in the election on 10 May 2018, and a fourth seat that was not included in that election.


Best Regards,
Christian D. Bope, Ph.D
Chairman, AFRINIC Board



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