Summary

  • The 26 October GAC Bali communiqué says Thiago Dal-Toe of Colombia was elected to finish Ian Sheldon's vice-chair term through ICANN90 and lists him on the team at the end of ICANN87.
  • The committee's posted Principle 31 says election results take effect at the end of the next GAC meeting; its June chair-election notice expected this replacement to begin after ICANN88.

The election has a winner. The calendar has two answers. In its Bali communiqué, ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee says it elected Thiago Dal-Toe of Colombia to serve the remainder of Ian Sheldon's vice-chair term, ending at ICANN90 in October 2027. It then lists Dal-Toe among the leadership team in place “at the end of the ICANN87 meeting”. The record gives the team a starting line in Bali.

The GAC's published Operating Principles draw that line one meeting later. Principle 31 says an election result is announced by the end of the meeting where the election takes place and takes effect at the end of the next GAC meeting. An earlier GAC page about Sheldon's chair election makes the consequence concrete: the special vice-chair replacement would serve after ICANN88, which the Bali communiqué schedules for Lisbon in March 2027. The October clean proposal for the rules leaves the next-meeting sentence intact. The vote tally and an explicit explanation of the date difference do not appear in the Bali communiqué.

Sheldon's chair transition has its own clear sequence. He was the sole nominee, confirmed by acclamation in June, and his two-year chair term began at the close of ICANN87. Dal-Toe's election fills the vice-chair term Sheldon left behind. The governing paperwork should make clear whether Dal-Toe joins the five-person deputy team now or after Lisbon.

This is a practical question, not a ceremonial one. The same Operating Principles say a vice-chair performs the chair's functions when the chair is absent from a meeting or part of it. A published roster tells members and other ICANN groups whom they can call on and when. The GAC's 26 October communiqué and its older election page are both public; readers should not have to solve the calendar puzzle themselves.

The clean October rules PDF is still titled as a proposal, while the Bali communiqué records a vote adopting administrative revisions. A dated consolidated text and a roster with Dal-Toe's effective date would settle what the public documents presently leave open. A committee that writes rules for its own elections can give its latest winner a single first day.

Original records: Bali communiqué; 2026 chair-election notice; June 2025 Operating Principles; October clean proposal; ALAC liaison's June report.