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OGP Steering Committee 2017 Rotation Note and Election Results

The OGP Articles of Governance require the OGP participating governments to vote to elect new government representatives to the Steering Committee each year.  One months before voting was due to begin, the Support Unit sent information on the requirements to be a candidate to all the active, participating governments.  Of those 73 eligible governments, 12 elected to compete for one of the four available seats.  The twelve countries were Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Canada, Italy, Mongolia, Nigeria, Paraguay, Philippines, South Africa, South Korea and Sri Lanka.  South Africa was competing to be re-elected to the SC after finishing an extended term.  In accordance with the Articles of Governance, the Governance and Leadership subcommittee reviewed the full slate of candidates for their compliance with the eligibility criteria to stand for election.  All 12 candidates were approved.

The Support Unit contracted an independent and experienced elections firm, EveryoneCounts, to organize and run the election.  Instructions were sent to the points of contact in each government shortly before the election opened on February 22.  Reminders were sent periodically to governments and a total of 68 of the 73 active OGP governments participated in the election (93%) before it closed on March 15.

Countries were asked to rank their preferences so that the top choice received 12 points, second choice received 11 points, etc.   Based on the results, four of the 12 countries were elected to full three-year terms (Canada, Italy, South Korea and South Africa).  The following is the full list of results.

GovernmentPointsPlaceRegionYears of Term
Canada6271Americas3
Italy5582Europe3
South Korea5313Asia-Pacific3
Argentina4664Americas
South Africa*3645Africa3
Paraguay3416Americas
Sri Lanka2787Asia-Pacific
Nigeria2558Africa
Albania2329Europe
Philippines22910Asia-Pacific
Mongolia18411Asia-Pacific
Armenia17712Asia-Pacific

* = As the highest scoring government from Africa, South Africa was automatically granted the fourth seat on the Steering Committee.  The regional balance mechanism is described in the OGP Articles of Governance and was designed to ensure all regions are represented with at least one and not more than four seats on the Steering Committee.

The Government rotation process was coordinated by the Government Support team of the Open Government Partnership Support Unit.  Questions can be directed to Jack Mahoney at the OGP Support Unit: [email protected]

OUTLINE OF 2017 STEERING COMMITTEE ELECTION PROCESS FOR GOVERNMENTS

Schedule

The current Steering Committee (specifically the Governance and Leadership subcommittee) agreed the following revised schedule for the 2017 election:

TimeProcess Step
January 19Governance and Leadership subcommittee decides schedule for elections
January 23If approved, the Support Unit sends a message to all participating OGP governments with details about the election
February 17Deadline for governments to submit letters intending to run for the Steering Committee
February 21GL reviews and approves list of candidates according to Articles of Governance criteria
February 22Send list of candidates to all OGP governments
February 22 – March 15Voting period for the new SC
March 16Announce results
By end of MarchCurrent and/or new SC members indicate their interest in running for chair
By end of AprilCandidates for chair submit their letter of intent to the Steering Committee outlining their proposed agenda
By the end of MayNew chairs selected, by vote of the SC if necessary (virtual votes may be necessary)
September (date TBC)In person ministerial Steering Committee meeting with both incoming and outgoing members
October 1SC chairs and members rotate

Governments Applying to Join the SC in 2017:

CountryOGP Electoral RegionLetter of Intent to Join OGPMinisterial RepresentativeLead MinistryLetter of Intent to Run for Steering CommitteeCurrent Eligibility ScoreCurrent Steering Committee Member?Current National Action PlanLatest Self Assessment ReportLatest IRM Report
AlbaniaEurope2011Zonja Milena HaritoAlbaninan Ministry of Innovation and Public AdministrationYes94%No201620162014-2016
ArgentinaAmericas2012Andres Horacio IbarraMinisterio de ModernizaciónYes100%No201520162015-2016
ArmeniaAsia-Pacific2011Mr. Vahe StepanyanOffice of the Prime MinisterYes92%No201620162014-2015
CanadaAmericas2011Scott BrisonTreasury Board SecretariatYes(English | French)100%No201620162014-2015
ItalyEurope2011Marianna MadiaMinistry of Public Administration and Simplification.Yes100%No201620162014-2015
MongoliaAsia-Pacific2013J.MunkhbatCabinet SecretariatYes100%No201620162014-2015
NigeriaAfrica2016Abubakar MalamiMinistry of JusticeYes75%No2017NANA
ParaguayAmericas2011José Molinas VegaTechnical Secretariat for PlanningYes83%No201620162014-2016
PhilippinesAsia-Pacific2011Secretary Benjamin E. DioknoDepartment of Budget and ManagementYes94%No201520162013-2015
South AfricaAfrica2011Ayanda DlodloMinistry of Public Service and AdministrationYes100%Yes20162013-20152013-2015
South KoreaAsia-Pacific2011Hong Yun-sikMinistry of InteriorYes100%No201620162014-2015
Sri LankaAsia-Pacific2015Mangala SamaraweeraMinister of Foreign AffairsYes75%No2015NANA

Frequently Asked Questions

Are all governments eligible to run for a seat on the SC?

Only OGP participating governments that meet the following criteria can run for the SC:

To be eligible for election participating OGP countries must:

  1. Have improved or maintained their eligibility score since submitting a letter of intent to join OGP.
  2. Have published all OGP required documents (action plans, self-assessment reports, etc.) within a month of deadlines.
  3. Have acted in accordance with the Open Government Declaration.

Current SC members running for reelection (applies only to South Africa) must have:

  1. Provided financial support to OGP (except in cases of extreme financial hardship).
  2. Regularly attended and participated actively in Steering Committee meetings and subcommittee meetings.

How many governments from each region can serve on the SC together?

A maximum of four governments and a minimum of one government can serve on the Steering Committee from each of the four regions OGP uses (Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe).  If one region has four governments already on the SC, no others can be elected.  If one region has three governments on, only one more can be elected from the same region.  The chart below shows how the governments not transitioning are sorted into regions.

Governments unsure of their regional classification can consult this page at the UN Statistics Division for clarification: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm.

The current breakdown of other members of the Steering Committee is below:

AfricaAmericasAsiaEurope
[Vacant]Mexico3Indonesia1France2
Chile2Georgia4Romania2
Croatia3

1 = Term ends 2018, not eligible for reelection

2 = Term ends 2018, eligible for reelection
3 = Term ends 2019, not eligible for reelection
4 = Term ends 2019, eligible for reelection

How should the application letter be formatted?

The letter should be addressed to the four OGP co-chairs (see here) and should include details of the candidate government, its track record in open government related issues, a statement of intent on how it plans to contribute to OGP’s leadership, and what strengths it would bring to the SC.

How will the voting actually occur?

As with previous years, all governments will be sent a complete list of candidate governments in advance of the voting period (by email), and will have three weeks to complete their ballot online.  Governments must rank their preferences from first to last, but do not need to rank all options.  The election is administered by an independent company, EveryoneCounts.  Ballots are secret and will not be public or shared with the Support Unit.  Only the final results will be accessible.

Scoring for this election

The system for this election is officially called Borda.  The way it works is that when each voter ranks their preferences, the top-ranked government will get 12 points, the second place one gets 11 points, third place gets 10 points and so on for as many governments as the voter ranks.   So for example if a voter were to rank all 12 countries (ie Country A first, Country B second, etc until Country L 12th), Country A would get 12 points from the vote, Country B would get 11 points, and so on until Country L gets one point.  If the voter chose to any rank the top six countries in the same order, Country A would still get 12, Country B 11, and so on until Country F gets six points.  Once the election closes, all points are added up and the country with the most points gets elected (after accounting for the regional balance mechanism).

If there is a tie between two governments, the tie will be broken by determining which government received the most first place votes. For example, if two governments were both awarded 320 points, but one government got 15 first place votes and the other got 14, the one with 15 votes will win.

If my government has not contributed to the OGP Support Unit, are we still eligible to vote in 2017?

Yes, as a part of the ‘Rules of the Game’ review currently underway this requirement that governments contribute to the Support Unit to participate in a vote of all members is not yet in effect but could be for the 2018 election.

Who should I contact if I have questions?

If you have questions, please contact Jack Mahoney ([email protected]) or your Support Unit contact.

Open Government Partnership