[EURO-Discuss] Legal Advice needed on a candidate for one of the elected European ALAC seats

[Wendy Seltzer]

I would be happy to provide an independent legal review of the situation.

--Wendy

Nick Ashton-Hart wrote:
> Dear Sue and Dan:
> 
> I have been asked by a group of the European ALS members to get a view
> for them on the following questions related to the candidature of
> Veronica Cretu for one of the two EURALO-elected ALAC seats.
> 
> The background:
> 
> Ms. Cretu was nominated for the seat, and accepted the nomination, in
> advance of a deadline for receiving nominations of 20th April. It became
> clear after the nominations period closed that Ms. Cretu was not a
> member of any accredited ALS in the European region.
> 
> Annette Muehlberg, the ALAC member appointed by the NomCom for the
> European Region, and official representative of the Network New Media
> ALS located in Germany, then announced by email that Ms. Cretu was now a
> member of the same ALS.
> 
> Ms. Cretu is herself a national of Moldova.
> 
> The MoU with ICANN provides, in Clause 5.4.1, attached and as follows:
> 
> "The EURALO will choose two (2) individuals to serve as representatives
> on the At Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) and other bodies as
> appropriate in the terms specified in the ICANN Bylaws. The voting
> rights shall be determined by the EURALO. The selected representatives
> must be members of different ALSes, must have their principal residence
> in different countries of the region and their nationalities must be
> different, save always that the EURALO may define additional diversity
> requirements.  Selected representatives will have the responsibilities
> described in the ICANN Bylaws. "
> 
> Likewise, the Bylaws of the EURALO provide as follows in connection with
> this situation:
> 
> "11.5  The General Assembly is responsible, without limitation, for the
> following matters:
> 
> [...]
> 
> 11.5.10 Electing the ALAC members representing Europe. The selected
> representatives must be members of different ALSes, must have their
> principal residence in different countries of the region and their
> nationalities must be different. To the extent possible, gender balance
> and regional balance within Europe shall be fostered."
> 
> The questions the region needs answered, in order to be assured of
> avoiding any unintentional violations of either the letter or the spirit
> of the rules and procedures, are as follows:
> 
> 1) Since the nominations closed on 20th April and the candidate was not
> at that time a member of any ALS, is her candidature forfeit?
> 2) Since she is now a member of the same ALS (from Germany) as the
> NomCom representative Annette Muehlberg who is herself also a German
> national, does this invalidate her candidature?
> 
> Be advised that the answers to these questions need to be forwarded
> directly to the community in question, and are urgently needed as the
> elections are due to start at Noon UTC on Friday 11th May.
> 
> 
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> 
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-- 
Wendy Seltzer -- wendy at seltzer.org
phone: +1.617.418.3456 / +44 (0)1865 287203 // cell: 07785 550361
Visiting Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute
Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/seltzer.html
http://www.chillingeffects.org/