[governance] Preliminary results of consensus call on IGC

[Deirdre Williams]

This message raises several concerns for me which I hope can be
discussed/clarified on the list.

On 31 January 2010 03:59, Jeremy Malcolm <jeremy at ciroap.org> wrote:
> I am not calling a result yet, because I need to discuss with Ginger.

I feel that this could have been more happily phrased, indeed more
happily done. In a situation which deliberately has TWO
co-coordinators surely the process should be to discuss first and then
jointly publish even a preliminary result.

>  However, as indication of participation, my count says that after removing
> duplicate votes and accounting for changed votes (mainly from YES to YES +
> thematic working groups), we have had 39 votes for YES + thematic working
> groups, 3 YES votes, 3 NO votes, and one abstention.
> Of these, seven YES + thematic working groups votes, and one YES vote, were
> from non-members and have to be disregarded.

PLEASE clarify the issue of "membership". This was not an election, it
was an open vote to try to establish consensus. I have pasted in what
seem to me to be the two relevant parts of the IGC charter below.

"Each person who is subscribed to the list at least two (2) months
before the election will be given a voter account.
As part of the voting process the voter must personally ascertain that
they are a member of the IGC based on membership criteria described
elsewhere in this charter and posted as part of the voting information
(i.e. a voter must affirm membership on the voter form in order to
vote).'

While the language of this rubric seems to suggest that it is limited
to elections, it is the only guidance the Charter offers for a "Voting
Process" which in fact is the heading for the paragraph. So is this to
govern the general "voting process" on issues, or only election
voting?

See the paragraph below. Is it the case that "an overwhelming majority
of the IGC" DOES NOT include those people who have joined the group
since the most recent election? In this case this would exclude those
who became interested and joined the list during or after the most
recent IGF meeting.

Decisions

The IGC will work on the basis of consensus as much as is possible.
When complete consensus cannot be reached the coordinators will be
jointly empowered to call rough consensus. Rough consensus, for the
purposes of the IGC, is defined as the point at which an overwhelming
majority of the IGC appears to agree with a position with any
dissenting minority view having been well discussed and respected.

> I expect to call a result soon after discussing with Ginger.  The result
> will be subject to appeal.

For statements defined as coming from two people the first person
plural "we" or an impersonal third person plural "The co-coordinators"
(although clumsy) would be preferable.
But then I'm an English teacher, and fussy :-)

Best wishes

Deirdre
>
> --
>
> Jeremy Malcolm
> Project Coordinator
> Consumers International
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-- 
“The fundamental cure for poverty is not money but knowledge" Sir
William Arthur Lewis, Nobel Prize Economics, 1979
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