The meeting was attended by Fernando José Cardenas Guerrero (Colombian Red Cross – chair of the committee), Cisse Abdourahmane (Mali Red Cross – member for Africa), José Benjamin Ruiz Rodas (El Salvador Red Cross – member for the Americas), Dr Fawzi Oussedik (QRCS – member for Asia Pacific), Jelena Darmanovice Dubak (Montenegro Red Cross – member for Europe) and Lucie Laplante and Corinne Orlik (IFRC - secretariat staff).
Following the opening remarks and approval of agenda items, the attendees discussed the Election Committee’s report submitted to the governing board’s 37th session in June. Then, they examined the election criteria, in light of the report, as well as Rules of Procedure of the committee.
Over the following two days, the participants appointed the chairs and members of committees during the 22nd session of the General Assembly (scheduled for December 2019), outlined their Rules of Procedure, elected the chair and members of the Youth Commission during the same session, developed the 2018-2019 action plan for appointment and election of committee members, and determined the date and place for the next meeting.
“In accordance with Articles 28 and 33 of the constitution, the Election Committee is appointed by the General Assembly, on the proposal of the governing board,” said Dr Oussedik. “It consists of one member from each of four geographical regions (Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe) and a chair.”
The committee’s tasks, he explained, include receiving all applications for the posts of president, vice-presidents and members of the governing board; drawing up objective criteria for nominations; ensuring that members proposed for constitutional bodies reflect the agreed criteria and that the principles regarding a fair geographical distribution and gender are followed; establishing an election timetable; arranging secret ballots; and announcing the results of all votes.
