EDYN Ambassadors Elections Members Opportunities Other

Dear EDYN members,

We are happy to announce that the first-ever EDYN Ambassador’s elections will take place in September. It is an important step forward towards more accountability and democracy within the network’s governance. This means that you, EDYN members, will vote for your own representatives – the Ambassadors – within your Country Chapter.

Let us explain the process, timeline, rules, and procedures. These were developed by your representatives at the Leadership Council and in the Election Committee and are enshrined in both the EDYN Charter 2022 and the EDYN Elections Committee Guidelines.

Timeline of the elections

• August 15-22: Publishing the rules and procedures of the elections
• August 22-29: Call to submit Quota Proposals as agreed by the individual Country Chapters via their Ambassadors (if no Quota Proposal is submitted, the Country Chapter will have no quotas during the elections. Quotas may aim to achieve balance in representation between gender, race, political party affiliation, NGO/political affiliation, etc.
• August 29-September 05: Quotas for individual countries communicated to Country Chapters respectively (between the Quota Proposal and the announcement, we need at least one week to check them)
• September 05: Call for Ambassador Candidates open
• September 14: Call for Ambassador Candidates closed
• September 14-19: List of Ambassador Candidates announced to all members
• September 19: Elections open (online voting)
• September 25: Elections closed
• September 30: Vote Count (closed session between EDYN HQ and the Election Committee)

NUMBER OF AMBASSADORS IN MY COUNTRY CHAPTER

The number of Ambassadors within each Country Chapter is determined by the number of members in that particular Country Chapter. For every 7 members, there is 1 Ambassador. Please see the table below to see the number of Ambassadors you will vote for in your own Country Chapter. If your country is not included in this table, it means that there are either fewer than 7 members or the elections within your specific Country Chapter have been postponed.

WHO CAN RUN TO BE AN AMBASSADOR

Any member who has been an EDYN member for more than 6 months and hasn’t reached the age of 33 can run to become an Ambassador.

AMBASSADOR CRITERIA

Ambassadors must be between the age of 18 and 32 (inclusive), possess strong written and verbal English language skills, strong leadership skills, good communication, and public speaking skills, and be citizens and current residents of an EDYN membership country listed above. Ambassadors must be active – politically or civically – engaged in their community, shall demonstrate a record of political and/or civic leadership, and support EDYN’s values as defined in the 2019 Berlin Declaration.

HOW DO I RUN TO BECOME AN AMBASSADOR

The call for candidates will open on September 5 and will close on September 14. During this period, you can apply and run for an Ambassador. If you are eligible to run, you shall enclose a Letter of Recommendation commending your political/civic leadership and achievements (from another person, form not prescribed) together with a CV and a statement of readiness to perform the role of Ambassador. There is no prescribed template to the statement either, you can simply indicate that you are ready to perform the role in the email. Please send the application between September 5 and 14 to this email: [email protected] and to the current Ambassadors of your Country Chapter. In most cases, the list of current Ambassadors is available on our webpage. If there are no Ambassadors in your Country Chapter or if you are not sure about the email addresses of your current Ambassadors, please send your application to the above-mentioned email. Your recommendation letter and your CV will be available to the IRI and NDI field offices in your country for vetting purposes. You may also want to use your recommendation letter in your campaign.

WHO CAN VOTE FOR THE AMBASSADOR(S)

Any member who has been an EDYN member for more than 6 months and hasn’t reached the age of 33 can vote for their Country Chapter’s Ambassador(s). However, this does not apply to countries that are not eligible to have an Ambassador.

VETO PERIOD

NDI/IRI and the HQ can influence the EDYN member and ambassador composition as follows:

• IRI and NDI field offices or the HQ can individually veto a member candidate in the recruitment process
• IRI/NDI/HQ can unanimously veto an Ambassador candidate in the Ambassador Elections
• IRI/NDI/HQ can unanimously demote a sitting Ambassador at any time during his/her mandate. If the Ambassador is an LC member, s/he loses the LC mandate immediately.

The veto right and/or demotion is activated only under specific circumstances when NDI/IRI/NDI are aware of severe violation of EDYN’s principles, values or commitments, criminal activity, or candidates’ affiliation with extremist movement, party, or other entity.

ELECTION PERIOD

The elections will open on September 19 and will close on September 25. The voting will take place online and each member who is eligible to vote will receive an email with instructions on how to vote. It is essential your email address is up to date and that your SPAM filter does not filter out automatic emails from edyn.eu. You will be able to vote using this email you officially registered when applying to EDYN. You can vote for the number of Ambassadors that was determined based on your Country Chapter size (or less if fewer candidates apply). You can also vote for yourself. All candidates will be given the list of their Country Chapter members; however, neither personal information nor contacts will be shared from the HQ. Individual Country Chapters can organize events connected to the elections and will be encouraged to help their members to get to know the candidates. The voting choices of all members are confidential and will be seen only by the Elections Committee from other countries and by the EDYN HQ.

COUNTING PERIOD

The vote count will take place on September 30 and closed and carried out by the Elections Committee and EDYN HQ.

Specific circumstances (e.g. ties) and potential disputes will be resolved by the Elections Committee (EC). Please see the list of EC members enclosed.

The best of luck to all the candidates and a BIG thank you to all those who will participate in the elections!