V ELECTIONS
32. Subject to Article 8 all Members shall have the right to vote in the elections of the Board.
33. (a) Any Member entitled to vote shall have the right to propose or to second any number of eligible candidates for election to the Board.
(b) Eligible candidates for election to the Board shall be individual members of a Member.
(c) If a candidate is not supported by his/her National Federation shall be nominated by at least three others Members.
34. (a) The elections for the Board shall take place every four years at the General Assembly of the ECU which so far as is practicable shall be held at the same time as the four yearly elections for FIDE Offices.
(b) Nomination papers, obtainable from the ECU, must be completed and submitted to the Secretariat of the ECU at least three months prior to the beginning of General Assembly. A list of the nominated candidates shall then be sent by the Secretary General to all Members together with all other notices as provided herein.
(c) The Board should comprise representatives of different Members and to that intent no Board member may at the time of his election or after be any kind of official (Board member or officer) of the same member as another Board member.
(d) In the case that one of the Board members changes his federation and then seeks to represent the Board as an ECU official of a federation already represented in the Board, the changing member must step down, unless the other Board member agrees to step down in his place.
35. (a) A Board comprising a President, a Deputy President, five (5) Vice Presidents, a Secretary General and a Treasurer shall be elected at the General Assembly. The President, the Deputy President, the five (5) Vice Presidents, the Secretary General and the Treasurer are elected to fulfil their respective offices.
(b) The President, the Deputy President, two (2) Vice Presidents, the Secretary General and the Treasurer are elected on a combined ticket of 6 persons, from 6 different Members, at least one of whom must be a male and at least one of whom must be a female. Nominations for this ticket as for the three (3) other board positions must reach the ECU Secretariat at least three months before the General Assembly and specify the respective office for each candidate. The candidate for President shall send the Nominations papers for the ticket, including a letter with the names of the candidates in the combined ticket.
(c) In case one member of a Presidential ticket becomes incapable to run for the election (death, illness or similar serious reasons), he/she can be replaced on the Presidential ticket within 20 days after the unexpected event, but at the latest until the day before the election. All other conditions concerning the nominations are applicable
(d) Votes in elections for the tickets are decided in the first ballot by the absolute majority of all votes cast but if there are more than two tickets and none of them respectively has an absolute majority on the first ballot, a second ballot is organised between the two tickets with the most votes on the first ballot. In the event of a tie further ballots will be taken until the tie is broken.
(e) The elections for the combined ticket shall be held prior to all other elections. A defeated candidate from a combined ticket has the right to run and in the individual elections for the three (3) Vice Presidents.
(f) Votes in elections for the three candidates for the other board positions are decided in the first ballot by the absolute majority of all votes cast. A second ballot is held for the candidates who do not have an absolute majority on the first ballot with the candidate with the fewest votes being eliminated and so on until each Board position is filled. Ties are broken by lot.
36. (a) Any vacancies in the Board arising by failure to elect members at the General Assembly or arising by death, resignation or removal from office shall be filled by the Board within thirty days with the new member having full voting rights but ceasing to hold office at the following General Assembly, but the Board may continue to act, notwithstanding any vacancy.
(b) A by-election will be held at the next General Assembly, in the usual manner, after a call for nominations to fill the vacancy or vacancies by giving as much notice as is reasonably practicable.
37. The Board may for just cause propose to the General Assembly the removal from office of Board member. The Board must serve a notice on such board member giving reasons for its decision and the member shall have the right to make representations as to why it should not be removed from membership of the Board. Copies of both the Board’s notice and the Board member’s response shall be included as attachments to the Notice of the Meeting of the General Assembly. The General Assembly shall hear oral representations on behalf of the Board and the Board member in question and shall have the right to terminate that person’s membership of the Board by a simple majority vote.
38. If a motion of no confidence in a Board member or members of which due notice has been given in the Agenda of the General Assembly and such motion is passed by a simple majority the General Assembly shall hear oral representations on behalf of the Board member or members in question and shall have the right by individual votes to terminate that or those persons’ membership of the Board by a simple majority vote.