We are having elections because as established in the Codex Procedural Manual under Rule III.1 the Members of the Commission must elect a Chairperson and three Vice-Chairpersons at each session, which would normally hold office from the end of the session at which they were elected until the end of the following regular session. The Members of the Commission will also elect the CCEXEC Members elected on a geographic basis which normally hold office from the end of the session of the Commission at which they were elected until the end of the second succeeding regular session.

Chairperson (1 vacancy); vice-chairpersons (3 vacancies) and Members elected on a Geographic basis – 7 vacancies but 4 of the incumbents are eligible for re-election (Germany (Europe), Japan (Asia), United Republic of Tanzania (Africa) and Uruguay (Latin America and the Caribbean) ) while new nominees must be made for the South West Pacific, the Near East and the North America geographic locations.

As the nomination period has not yet opened there are no official nominations to date. Members intending to nominate a candidate for any of the vacancies may however communicate this intent directly to Members for their information.

The nomination period for the election of Chairperson, Vice-Chairpersons and Members elected on a geographical basis are only open at the Commission session.

The nomination periods are indicated in the table provided in question 3.

As CAC44 will take place virtually, nomination forms will be distributed electronically upon receipt of a request to the Codex-Secretary ([email protected]) from registered delegates and Codex Contact points at the opening of the nomination periods and the signed nomination forms should be returned to the Codex-Secretary ([email protected]) by email from the Head of Delegation and/or Codex Contact Point within the stated closing time of the nomination period. Nomination forms received after the deadline will not be accepted. The candidates nominated for each position will be announced immediately after the closure of the nomination period.

Only Members of the Codex Alimentarius Commission are eligible to vote. Each member registers and identifies their voting delegate and alternate voting delegate on the Codex online registration System.

Voting/alternate delegates must be physically present in Geneva on the election dates identified in question 3. Delegations may identify any delegation member to cast votes, this is entirely at the discretion of the Member delegation. Furthermore, it will be assumed that voting delegates who present themselves to vote are authorized to do so by their delegation.

Elections will only take place if needed, that is if there are more nominations for a position than vacancies available. In cases where the number of nominations for a position is the same as the number of vacancies, the election is decided by clear general consent/acclamation. In such cases physical in-person voting will not be required. The table in question 3 gives the times for elections by secret ballot if there is more than one candidate per elective position.

The voting, if needed, will take place at the CENTRE DE CONFÉRENCE DE VAREMBÉ- (CCV), 9-11 Rue de Varembé, 1202 Geneva. This is just opposite the usual venue for the CAC in Geneva.

Whether or not in-person physical voting is required will be announced approximately 3 hours before the scheduled election together with the nominations. If you are a voting delegate, you may follow the CAC meeting for the announcement and you will also be alerted through the contact details you provide to the Codex secretariat. Heads of Delegation are also advised to keep in touch with their voting delegates.

·        Firstly each Codex member must register and identify their voting delegate and alternate voting delegate on the Codex Online Registration System (ORS). Remember: voting/alternate delegates must be physically present in Geneva on the election dates identified above.

·        Delegates may register more than one alternate voting delegate on the ORS to ensure availability to vote on the dates mentioned above. However, each Member shall have only one vote in each of the elections.  

·        All registered Voting/alternate delegates will then be contacted by the Codex Secretariat and asked to provide contact details to facilitate real time updates and communications during the election periods.

·        Voting delegates, or their alternates if necessary, will be required to register to access the voting venue in Geneva. 

All registered voting/alternate delegates will be provided by email with detailed information on the voting process, including the time at which they should present themselves at the CCV in Geneva to vote, the health-related requirements and identification requirements and the rules regarding mobile phones and other electronic recording devices in the voting booths. The voting facility will follow all local health requirements. Only one voting delegate per Member will be able to access the voting facility.

Here is an outline of the voting procedure:

·        The number of votes to be cast should be the same as there are vacancies on the ballot paper. Any number lower or higher than the number of vacancies would invalidate the ballot paper.

Example

·        For the election of the Chairperson, the voting delegate should vote for one of the candidates on the ballot paper – considering there is only one vacancy for Chairperson. However, in the case of the Vice-Chairpersons, the voting delegate should cast the vote for three of the candidates in the first round – considering that there are three vacancies for Vice-Chairpersons.  In case successive rounds of balloting are needed, then this number might change. For example if after the first round, one of the candidates is elected Vice-Chairperson and two vacancies remain, then the voting delegate would need to vote for two of the candidates in that round. Clear voting instructions will be presented on the ballot papers. In addition, assistance on voting will be available before and during the voting procedure.

In cases where more than one round of voting is required, these will take place as soon as practicable on the same day as the first round of voting and continue until vacancies are filled. 

There are a couple of options available to you if you do not have a physical presence in Geneva. The applicable Rules on the composition of delegations allow Members to include any person to their delegation, including nationals from other countries. The only limitation that applies is that no delegate to the 44^th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission can also be included in the delegation to the Session of another Member. This means that you could exercise your voting rights by including on your delegation a person already based in Geneva (that could be a national from another Member country) or a person that has the opportunity to travel to Geneva for the purpose of voting (e.g. from your diplomatic Representation in a nearby city or country)

If you have any questions on this please contact us at [email protected].

All the rules regarding elections are available on the Codex webpage.

For Election of Chairperson and Vice-chairperson click here.

For Election of the Executive committee Members on a geographical basis click here.

Rule V.1 of the Rules of Procedure of CAC further prescribes that not more than one delegate from any one country shall be a member of the Executive Committee. To implement this rule elections are held sequentially with chairperson elections held first, then vice-chairperson elections and finally Members elected on a geographic basis. When a national from a Member country is elected to a position, that Member country can no longer submit nominations for any other vacancy to be filled.

The results of the elections will be announced immediately after the end of the ballot count. In the election for the Chairperson of the Commission, if a candidate fails on the first ballot to obtain a majority of the votes cast, successive ballots will be taken immediately after such announcement, until a candidate obtains the majority.

In the election for the three Vice-chairpersons, if only some of the elective places have been filled after the first ballot, a second ballot will be cast to fill the remaining elective places.

In case successive ballots are required, the Codex Secretariat will contact voting/alternate delegates providing further details on the exact time of such ballots.