Rule 9. ELECTIONS TO AND HOLDING OFFICE


Section A
. Elected Organisational Officers: Terms.

(1) Terms of Elective Office. The President and Vice President shall be elected as a team. The President (with Vice President), Representatives and Treasurer shall serve terms of two (2) years. However, the outgoing Treasurer may, if requested by the President or Board, serve as a non-voting member of Board and an advisor to the incoming Treasurer for up to one year.

(2) Criteria for President and Treasurer.

a. Geographic. The positions of President (with Vice President) and Treasurer shall be rotated every four years among the IPA’s three Geographical Areas, in the following order: North America, then Europe, then Latin America, then North America, etc.

b. IPA Membership. Each candidate for President, Vice President, President-Elect, Vice President-Electand Treasurer must be an IPA Member through a Component Society or the Regional Association (except with the Board’s express waiver – per Rule 9B(1)h).

Section B. Nomination, Election and Tenure of Organisational Officers and Representatives.

(1) Nominations of candidates for President (with Vice President), President-Elect (with Vice President-Elect), Treasurer, and Representatives.
All provisions of this subsection B(1) shall be carried out pursuant to rules, limits and procedures in the Procedural Code that shall be adopted, and from time to time may be modified, by the Board. Potential nominees for the offices of President (with Vice President), President-Elect (with Vice President-Elect), Treasurer and Representatives may be suggested by Component Societies, by the Regional Association or any of its Affiliate Societies, or from at least ten (10) IPA Members. Nominations for President must include the nomination of a Vice President as they are voted upon as a team.

a. Regional Nominating Committees.

(i) The Vice President (or designee) shall, by timely notice, direct the Presidents of the Constituent Organisations in each Geographical Area, after consulting the members of their Societies, to select a Regional Nominating Committee of five (5) IPA Members in that Geographical Area and send their names, addresses, and telephone numbers and other contacts to the Vice President; and

(ii) Each Regional Nominating Committee shall choose one among them to serve as Chair and shall nominate those IPA Members it judges best qualified for the seven (7) Representatives to the Board, subject to criteria in the Procedural Code. Nominees shall be allocated to ensure a representation from a cross-section of Constituent Organisations and countries.

b. Central Nominating Committee. Each Regional Nominating Committee shall appoint two (2) of its members to serve on the Central Nominating Committee. The six (6) members of the Central Nominating Committee shall choose one among them to serve as Chair. The Central Nominating Committee shall nominate those IPA Members it judges best qualified for each position subject to rules and limits in the Procedural Code. If the incumbent President with Vice President or Treasurer is standing for re-election, the Central Nominating Committee may nominate only the incumbent. The President may name a different Vice President to serve with him/her for his/her second term.

c. Criteria for nomination. Nominees for IPA office must (i) be professionally respected, (ii) have demonstrable leadership abilities, (iii) have experience working in and with the IPA, (iv) not have contravened any of the criteria for the removal and replacement of Organisational Officers in Rule 9, Section C(2)a, (v) commit themselves to work for the IPA and attend its Business Meetings, and (vi) not have served on any IPA Nominating Committee since the last IPA elections. A candidate’s false statement of qualification shall be grounds for removal from the ballot by the Board or a committee it designates.

d. Nominating Committee Slate. The slate of Nominating Committee nominees shall be distributed by Survey Method or mail to all IPA Members by 30 September of the year before the Congress.

e. Nominations by Petition of IPA Members. A candidate for President with Vice President, President-Elect with Vice President-Elect or Treasurer may be nominated by a written petition of at least 150 IPA Members (50 from each Geographical Area). A candidate for Representative may be nominated by a written petition of at least 100 IPA Members from the respective Geographic Area (with not more than 50 from any Constituent Organisation or, in the case of the Regional Association, of any of its Affiliate Societies). Nominations by petition must be accompanied by the written consent of the nominee and actually received by the Vice President by the end of November of the year preceding a Congress.

f. Nominee consent to run/serve. Before a nomination becomes valid, the nominee must consent (or nominees in the case of the President and Vice-President) in a timely manner in writing to run and, if elected, serve the IPA as provided in these Rules. No person may consent to be nominated for more than one office in a given election.

g. Ballot distribution. The final slate of candidates (nominees) will be prepared and the official ballot will be dispatched directly to all IPA Members in good standing, together with brief and objective information about each candidate, by the end of February of the Congress year.

h. Candidate eligibility. Except with the Board’s express waiver, a member of a Provisional Society or Study Group, who is not a member of a Component Society or the Regional Association, is not eligible to run for or hold IPA elected office.

(2) President, Vice President and President-Elect and Vice President-Elect.

a. The President and Vice President may stand for re-election for a second two (2) year term if such term is within the quadrennium allocated to the President’s and Vice President’s Geographical Area.

b. At the end of the first two (2) year term of the presidential quadrennium of a given Geographical Area, candidates for the office of President-Elect and Vice President-Elect will be nominated. The person elected shall serve as President-Elect and Vice President-Elect. The President-Elect shall succeed to the Presidency and the Vice President-Elect to the Vice Presidency at the close of the following Business Meeting.

(3) Voting for Organisational Officers and Representatives.

Voting. The President, Vice President, President-Elect, Vice President-Elect and Treasurer shall be elected by the whole IPA Membership. The seven (7) Representatives from each Geographical Area shall be elected by the IPA Members in that area.Balloting Deadlines. All ballots received by May 31 of the Congress year, or such earlier date as the Board may establish if it adopts an electronic balloting system, shall be counted. The Balloting Deadline may be extended [prior to the commencement of the balloting period] by the Board if, in the Board’s reasonable opinion, there are special circumstances which make it appropriate to do so.

c. Electing President, Vice President, President-Elect, Vice President-Elect and Treasurer.

(i) When two (2) presidential teams or candidates for Treasurer are nominated a simple majority of the votes cast shall decide.

(ii) When three or more presidential teams or candidates for Treasurer are nominated each IPA Member shall be provided with a ballot permitting (and describing) Preferential Voting, which will be employed to determine election.

Under the system of Single Transferable Vote, also known as Preferential Voting, the elector is required to enter the figure 1 against the name of the candidate or presidential team to whom first preference is given. The elector may then, in addition, enter the figures 2, 3 and so on, against the names of any other candidates or presidential teams, in order of preference. After progressive elimination of candidates with the lowest number of votes, election is achieved when a candidate acquires more votes than the total votes of the remaining contenders. The details of this system are set out in “Regulations for the Election of One Person By Means of the Single Transferable Vote,” Electoral Reform Society, which shall be reproduced on each ballot to which it is pertinent.

d. Electing Representatives. Each IPA Member may vote for up to seven (7) candidates for Representative from that IPA Member’s Geographical Area. To achieve diversity of representation, the Board may adopt (and shall record in the Procedural Code) rules and limits on the number of Representatives electable from Constituent Organisations and/or countries in any or all Geographical Areas. Subject to any such Board adopted rules and limits, those candidates who receive the most votes will be elected.

e. Announcement of Election Results. Election results will be announced promptly by Survey Method and in the IPA Newsletter and Business Meeting.

(4) Tenure of office.

a. Terms. Newly elected Representatives and Organisational Officers take office at the close of the Business Meeting following their election and serve for two (2) years. Their terms end (unless duly re-elected) at the close of the following Business Meeting.

b. Term Limits. An elected Organisational Officer or Representative shall be eligible to serve only two (2) full consecutive terms in the same office, except to the extent that a President-Elect and Vice President – Elect has assumed the Presidency before the beginning of the term to which elected.

Section C. Organisational Officers: Voluntary Status, Removal, and Replacement.

(1) Organisational Officers as Volunteers. Organisational Officers, listed above, are the IPA’s elected and appointed leaders and serve as volunteers. An Organisational Officer’s expenses in serving the IPA may be paid or reimbursed by order of the Board.

(2) Removal and Replacement of Organisational Officers.

a. Removal of Organisational Officer. By a vote of two-thirds of its Entire Voting Membership, the Board may remove or suspend from office an Organisational Officer or Representative upon finding, after a review of the pertinent facts and affording the Organisational Officer or Representative an opportunity to present his or her position, that the Organisational Officer or Representative cannot or should not continue to serve because of mental, physical or professional incapacity, malfeasance, illegal or unethical conduct, or chronic neglect of official responsibilities. If an Organisational Officer’s available time for IPA affairs is inconsistent with the Board’s reasonable expectations or requirements, the Board may, by a vote of two-thirds of the Entire Voting Membership, relieve or reassign that Organisational Officer’s responsibilities, or replace or suspend the Organisational Officer, permanently or temporarily.

b. Replacement of President. If the President dies, resigns, becomes incapacitated or is removed, the Vice President shall assume the position of President. If the Vice President is also unavailable for any of the reasons above a President-Elect and Vice President-Elect who has held that position for at least twelve (12) months will assume the position of President and Vice President. Otherwise, the Board (by a majority of the Board’s Entire Voting Membership) shall elect an Interim President and Interim Vice President from among those current voting members of the Board who are from the Geographical Area as then applies to the presidency. The Board shall decide whether to hold a special election, wait until the next scheduled election, or wait until the President-Elect and Vice President-Elect have been in office at least twelve (12) months.

c. Replacement of Vice President. If the Vice President dies, resigns, becomes incapacitated, or is removed, the President will appoint a replacement Vice President, from the Geographical area that then applies to the Presidency, with the approval of the majority of the Board’s total voting membership. If the President’s choice does not receive a majority vote, the Board shall elect (by majority of the Board’s total voting membership) an interim Vice President from among the voting members of the Board whoa re from the geographical region that then applies to the President.

d. Replacement of Treasurer. If the Treasurer dies, resigns, becomes incapacitated or is removed, the President, in agreement with the Vice President and with the Board’s approval, shall appoint a voting member of the Board from the same Geographical Area as the prior Treasurer to hold this office until a new Treasurer is elected and takes office.

e. Replacement of Representatives. Any vacant Representative position may be filled by Presidential appointment of an IPA Member, from the same Geographical Area, in agreement with the Vice President and with the approval of the Board.