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<body><div>Thanks for making that all clear Norbert. In fact I believe the last attempted charter amendments failed, despite a 70 for, 4 against vote - because the number of voters did not equate with the requisite 2/3 percentage of "members" . So that area is difficult and best left to one side for now.</div><div><br /></div><div>But yes, once cocos are in place a revival of the appeals team would also seem appropriate.</div><div><br /></div><div>One step at a time....</div><div><br /></div><div>Ian</div>
<div><br /></div>
<div>------ Original Message ------</div>
<div>From: "Norbert Bollow" <<a href="mailto:nb@bollow.ch">nb@bollow.ch</a>></div>
<div>To: <a href="mailto:governance@lists.riseup.net">governance@lists.riseup.net</a></div>
<div>Sent: 20/07/2019 3:45:25 AM</div>
<div>Subject: [governance] Procedural rules for amendment of the charter</div><div><br /></div>
<div id="x2b85cc591903401" class="plain"><blockquote cite="20190719194525.400951ce@quill" type="cite" class="cite2">
<tt style="word-wrap:break-word"><div class="plain_line">On Fri, 19 Jul 2019 16:37:40 +0000 (UTC)</div>
<div class="plain_line">Imran Ahmed Shah" <<a href="mailto:ias_pk@yahoo.com">ias_pk@yahoo.com</a>> wrote:</div>
<div class="plain_line"> </div>
<blockquote type="cite" class="cite2">
<div class="plain_line"> Hi, Bruna.This reminds to congratulate on uncontested, but it leaves</div>
<div class="plain_line"> here a big question about eligible voters for the charter amendment</div>
<div class="plain_line"> approval. Charter refer to the last election. ...If no election was</div>
<div class="plain_line"> held, ... is there no one eligible?..... Or all are eligible?.... or</div>
<div class="plain_line"> previous election will be assumed as last election??</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="plain_line"> </div>
<div class="plain_line">Under the procedural rules of the current version of the Charter, a</div>
<div class="plain_line">proposal to amend the Charter must be "proposed by no fewer than ten</div>
<div class="plain_line">(10) members", and it succeeds only if the change proposal is "approved</div>
<div class="plain_line">by no less than two-thirds (2/3) of the members of the IGC"; that is</div>
<div class="plain_line">clarified as follows: "In amending the charter, everyone who voted in</div>
<div class="plain_line">the previous election will be deemed a member for amending the charter."</div>
<div class="plain_line"> </div>
<div class="plain_line">In view of these hurdles, the only reasonable interpretation is to</div>
<div class="plain_line">understand the term "the previous election" as referring to the last</div>
<div class="plain_line">election where actual voting has taken place.</div>
<div class="plain_line"> </div>
<div class="plain_line">But practically speaking, I would suggest that it makes little sense to</div>
<div class="plain_line">initiate a charter amendment process unless there was an election (with</div>
<div class="plain_line">actual voting) recently. Otherwise the likelihood is too great that more</div>
<div class="plain_line">than a third of the people who voted in the last election are not</div>
<div class="plain_line">currently actively following the list, and then the proposal will fail</div>
<div class="plain_line">for lack of receiving enough positive votes, no matter how strong a</div>
<div class="plain_line">consensus there might otherwise be in support of the proposal.</div>
<div class="plain_line"> </div>
<div class="plain_line">I would further suggest that it would be wise to have an appeals team in</div>
<div class="plain_line">place, as foreseen in the IGC Charter, before any attempt is made to</div>
<div class="plain_line">revise the Charter. Otherwise there is no legitimate way of resolving</div>
<div class="plain_line">any disagreements in regard to whether a proposal to amend the Charter</div>
<div class="plain_line">was successful. That could be bad. Right now we at least know what the</div>
<div class="plain_line">IGC Charter is.</div>
<div class="plain_line"> </div>
<div class="plain_line">Greetings,</div>
<div class="plain_line">Norbert</div>
</tt></blockquote></div>
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