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Wonderland (Credit: Patrick Klenk, distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Structure Election of Council members

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Election of Council members

General information

According to the EGU Constitution (Article 4.1), the overall management and control of the Union shall rest in the hands of an elected Council, consisting of a president, a vice-president, a general secretary, a treasurer, and the presidents of each division. According to the by-laws of the Union, the names of candidates for division presidents shall be decided at the relevant division meetings and, for the other officers of Council, at the relevant Plenary Session. All nominations are then fed to the Nominations Committee. Members of the Union unable to attend the relevant division meetings or Plenary Session may propose names of candidates directly to the chairpersons of the division meetings or of the Plenary Session, by three weeks prior to the relevant meetings. These meetings are held, in general, at the annual General Assembly of the Union.

Election

The chair of the Nominations Committee must then ascertain the willingness of each candidate to stand for election and present the proposed slates to the Council for approval. The relevant Council meeting is normally held in October of the year of the General Assembly. After approval, the Nomination Committee prepares short summaries of maximum one page about each candidate. These summaries, together with the ballot papers listing all candidates, and with provision for additional write-in candidates, are distributed to all members of the Union by the EGU Executive Office. Members may then vote for one candidate only for each vacancy, but with the proviso that each member may vote for only one president of a division, however many presidential vacancies occur. Completed ballots shall be returned to the EGU Executive Office. The names of the elected candidates are announced at the Council meeting and the Plenary Session of the Union held during the next General Assembly, and in the website of the Union.

Terms of members of Council

The president shall be elected to serve for a term of two years. He/she shall be elected one year before the beginning of the term of office, and in that period serve as president-elect, and shall continue as a member of the Council for one year after the term of office, as past-president. The president-elect or the past-president is the vice-president of the Union. The president shall not be eligible for immediate re-election. The general secretary and the treasurer shall be elected to serve for a term of two years, and shall be eligible for immediate re-election. The president of each division shall be elected for a term of two years, and shall be eligible for immediate re-election once only. The executive secretary shall be appointed by the Council to serve for a term of five years, and shall be indefinitely eligible for re-appointment for subsequent terms. He/she shall be an ex-officio member of the Council and of all committees (if not already specified).