Summary

  • AFRINIC says one of its two Policy Development Working Group co-chair positions will be filled at the 18 November Public Policy Meeting; the other remains with an incumbent until then.
  • The remaining position carries an exceptional one-year term. Candidates need two Resource Member sponsors, while selection participants can be registered members of the African Internet community whether or not they represent a member.

AFRINIC’s November meeting is not choosing two new policy co-chairs at once. The registry’s current election overview says one of the two positions will be filled at the next Public Policy Meeting (PPM), on 18 November. Its dedicated selection page records why the process is split: in June, one candidate was found eligible and selected by consensus for a two-year term; the second position continues to be held by its incumbent until the November meeting.

The Nomination Committee’s 2 October notice now calls for one Co-Chair. It gives the selected person an exceptional one-year term ending at the first PPM after that year expires. Future replacements would typically serve two years. The arrangement keeps the two positions on different term clocks, but AFRINIC’s notice does not explain why the November call names only one seat or identify the incumbent who will leave it.

The role is consequential because the Co-Chairs run the procedure around policy proposals. AFRINIC’s guidelines describe them as neutral facilitators: they moderate discussions, guide proposals through the process and determine whether rough consensus has been reached. They do not decide the policy outcome itself. Continuity in the chair therefore matters to how a proposal is heard and recorded, while the authority to approve policy remains elsewhere in the process.

The rules also separate who can sponsor a candidate from who can take part in the selection. Each nomination needs support from two AFRINIC Resource Members in good standing. Candidates must also meet experience and participation criteria, including meaningful policy-list activity and attendance at AFRINIC events. Yet the eligible participants at the PPM are individuals from the African Internet community who complete the meeting-registration process, whether they represent Resource Members or not. The Bylaws likewise describe PPMs as open to members and anyone interested in number-resource policy.

That is a broader participation route than a member-only ballot, but it is not evidence of how many people will register or participate. The sources give no candidate count for the November selection, no participant total, and no account of how consensus will be documented. The nomination period closes on 29 October, and the final candidate slate is scheduled for 6 November.

The present record therefore establishes a staged succession and its formal boundaries, not its representativeness. The useful public test is whether AFRINIC links the eligibility decision, registered-participant list, consensus determination and one-year term dates in a record that members and the wider policy community can inspect.

Sources