Dear EDYN Members,
We are happy to announce the EDYN Ambassador’s elections 2024 will take place during May and June 2024, and ALL OF YOU – EDYN MEMBERS will have the opportunity to run and vote for Ambassadors of your respective Country Chapters.
Let us explain the process, timeline, rules, and procedures. These were developed by your representatives in the Leadership Council and the Elections Committee, and are enshrined in both the EDYN Charter 2024 and the EDYN Elections Committee Guidelines.
TIMELINE FOR AMBASSADOR ELECTIONS 2024
May 20 – May 30: Nominations for Ambassador’s positions
May 31 – June 9: Campaigning Period
June 10: Elections Open (online voting)
June 16: Elections close and the votes will be counted by the voting website automatically
June 17: EDYN HQ and the Elections Committee will officially announce the results
NUMBER OF AMBASSADORS PER 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 one Ambassador. For Country Chapters with more than 49 members, the limit of ambassadors per country is 7 (seven).
In the table below you can see the number of Ambassadors belonging to each Country Chapter. If a country chapter is not included in this table, it means that there are fewer than 7 members or elections have been postponed, and therefore your Country Chapter can not have an Ambassador yet.
| EDYN Country Chapter | # of Ambassadors |
| Albania | 7 |
| Armenia | 2 |
| Belarus | 2 |
| BiH | 5 |
| Croatia | 1 |
| Czech Republic | 3 |
| Estonia | 1 |
| Georgia | 7 |
| Hungary | 3 |
| Kosovo | 7 |
| Moldova | 7 |
| Montenegro | 4 |
| North Macedonia | 7 |
| Poland | 3 |
| Romania | 2 |
| Serbia | 2 |
| Slovenia | 1 |
| Ukraine | 7 |
| # of AMBASSADORS | 71 |
* (Elections have been postponed for the Slovak country chapter by the decision of the EDYN LC)
WHO CAN RUN TO BE AN AMBASSADOR
All EDYN members who have been members for more than 6 months 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, be citizens and current residents of an EDYN membership country (specified above). Ambassadors must be actively – politically or civically – engaged in their community, shall demonstrate a record of political and/or civic leadership, and support the values of EDYN as defined in the 2019 Berlin Declaration.
HOW DO I RUN TO BECOME AN AMBASSADOR
The call for candidates will open on May 20 and will close on May 30. During this period, you can apply and run for an Ambassador. If you are eligible to run, you shall enclose:
- CV, and
- A Signed Statement of readiness to perform the role of an Ambassador (it is sufficient to write it in the body of the email)
- OPTIONAL: letter of recommendation regarding political/civic leadership and achievements,
Candidates should send their applications by email to the sitting Ambassadors in his/her respective Country Chapter and to the EDYN HQ at [email protected].
In case there are no sitting Ambassadors at the moment of the application, the candidate shall present the documents only to the HQ at [email protected].
WHO CAN VOTE FOR THE AMBASSADOR(S)
Any member who has been an EDYN member for more than 6 months and has not 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 and the HQ can influence the EDYN member and ambassador composition as follows:
- NDI field offices or the HQ can individually veto a member candidate in the recruitment process
- NDI/HQ can unanimously veto an Ambassador candidate in the Ambassador Elections
- 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/HQ are aware of severe violation of EDYN’s principles, values, or commitments, criminal activity, or candidates affiliation with an extremist movement, party, or other entity. In case of an Ambassador demotion, the decision is communicated in a letter signed by the ED.
ELECTION PERIOD
The elections will open on June 10 and will close on June 16. 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 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 be done automatically by the voting website once the elections close. The official results will be communicated on June 17 by the Elections Committee and EDYN HQ.
Specific circumstances (e.g. ties) and potential disputes will be resolved by the Elections Committee (EC).
Best of luck to all the candidates, and a heartfelt thank you to all those who will participate in the elections!
