RIPE Arbiter Vote: 33 Rounds, 345 Abstentions

RIPE NCC’s Arbiter Vote Ran 33 Rounds. Every Seat Logged 345 Abstentions.

Why it matters

Six people won six seats on RIPE NCC’s Arbiter Panel. The official count took 33 rounds across those seats, and each seat’s report recorded 345 weighted votes as abstentions.

Theo March31 October 2026 at 00:55 UTCReading Time 2 minLast update: 31 October 2026

Six seats, thirty-three count rounds.

Summary

RIPE NCC’s October ballot elected Klaus Landefeld, Kurt Jaeger, Victor Bolaños Guerra, Matyas Koszik, Jean-Paul M. Chia and Ralph Karseboom to six Arbiter Panel seats.
The six seat counts took 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 and 3 rounds. Each report listed 345 weighted abstentions.

Eight candidates competed for six appointments; the result names six winners. The count takes longer. RIPE NCC’s voting report shows 33 counting rounds in all, as instant runoff narrowed the field one seat at a time.

Klaus Landefeld’s seat took eight rounds. He finished with 494 weighted votes against a quota of 379. Kurt Jaeger’s seven-round count ended at 486 against 369; Victor Bolaños Guerra won after six rounds with 468 against 343. Matyas Koszik cleared 410 against 286 in five rounds. Jean-Paul M. Chia finished at 384 against 254 in four. Ralph Karseboom’s three-round count ended at 365 against 233.

The repeated number is harder to miss than the winners: every seat table records 345 abstentions. The 345 figure counts weighted voting units; the report gives no corresponding member headcount. RIPE NCC’s report also tracks exhausted ballots as rankings run out during the successive counts. For the first seat, the table starts from 1,102 total weighted votes and records 263 exhausted ballots by the end.

That is what the ranked ballot was built to do: transfer preferences as candidates are eliminated until a winner clears that seat’s quota. The procedure produced six appointments. The public report also leaves a blunt question on the page: why did 345 weighted votes abstain in every seat count? It records the number, not members’ reasons.

The arbiters hold a working role in the registry’s dispute process. RIPE NCC’s procedure assigns them disputes between members over registration of Internet number resources and evaluations of RIPE NCC requests for those resources. The ballot filled that control point.

Sources: RIPE NCC’s election results, official voting report, Arbiter Panel election page, General Meeting transcript and Conflict Arbitration Procedure.