Japan Network Information Center

5-5 Results of ICANN At Large Membership Election
- At Large Trustees Election -

Five ICANN Trustees were elected in voting that closed on October 10 (GMT). Of the 76,000 registered At Large Members, more than 34,000 cast online votes.

Election Process Review

One Trustee was elected from each of five geographic regions: Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean, and North America.

Through this election, ICANN achieved its goal of mutual understanding for global diversity, which is also one of their philosophies.

ICANN New Trustees

The names and career summaries of the elected Trustees are:

• Nii Quaynor(Africa)
  Place of Residence: Ghana
  CEO, Network Computer Systems, Inc.
  ccTLD administrator for .gh in Ghana
  Member of DNSO Names Council
  
  
• Masanobu Katoh(Asia/Pacific)
  Place of Residence: Maryland, U.S.A
  General Manager of Fujitsu Limited, Washington, D.C. Office, addressing issues in areas that include electronic commerce, intellectual property rights, antitrust law policy, telecommunications, and scientific technology.
  Chairman of both ILPF and GIIC
  Member of DNSO Names Council
  
  
• Andy Mueller-Maguhn(Europe)
  Place of Residence: Germany
  Self-Employed
  28-year netizen
  Member of the Chaos Computer Club since 1986, and its chairman since 1990
  
  
• Ivan Moura Campos(Latin America/Caribbean)
  Place of Residence: Brazil
  CEO, Akwan Information Technologies
  ISCB Chairman (Internet Steering Committee of Brazil)
  
  
• Karl Auerbach(North America)
  Place of Residence: California, U.S.A
  Engineer specializing in the Internet since 1973
  Researcher at Cisco Systems, Inc.
  Member of IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)

These five Trustees are expected to begin playing their roles at the ICANN meeting, from November 13 to 16 in Marina del Rey, California.

Features of the Election

This election drew a great deal of attention not only because the Trustee election itself was a new endeavor, but also due to the online voting which was probably unprecedented in a global election. Technical problems were encountered during the first several voting days, which caused inconvenience to the voters. However, the voting closed on October 10 as scheduled.

It is also notable that an Alternative/Preferential Voting System was adopted in this election, which is something unfamiliar to the Japanese. Details pertaining to this system can be found in other references. The system is significantly different from one that Japanese usually imagine, because in this system the voters rank candidates in order of preference. It results in another way to tally votes, and is likely the mechanism in which the candidates whose pledges and philosophies are most widely accepted will be elected.

The basis of the system is that if the vote is split, the number of wasted votes would be as small as possible and the will of the voters would be greatly respected. In fact, the new Trustees for Africa, Asia/Australia/Pacific, Europe, and Latin America/Caribbean were elected at the first vote count, but the North American Trustee was not elected until the sixth vote count.

The adoption of this system can be considered to have been produced by ICANN, who deliberately developed it based on their own philosophies, because in reality where a variety of languages and cultures exist in countries and regions all over the world the candidates whose ideas are most widely accepted in their regions will be elected. People worldwide were able to take part in this Trustee election regardless of geography. As a result of electing Trustees golobally, it is expected to redress the regional imbalance and perceived unfairness in the world of the INternet which is deemed to be built around the United States.

Finally, the nature of the At Large Membership Election itself is slated to be discussed, based on the process and results of this election.