Speaker of Council Elections 2025

Eligibility criteria

Any individual from any Full ECPR Member institution can nominate themselves to stand for election for the Speaker of Council.

The successful candidate must be the Official Representative (OR) for their institution at the time of taking office. If you are not already an OR at the time of nomination, you must provide confirmation from your institution and incumbent OR if applicable, that you will take on the role upon election.

Voting: Only Official Representatives from Full Member institutions may endorse nominations and vote in the final ballot.

The election process

The procedure for electing the ECPR Speaker of Council involves three successive stages: nominations, endorsements, and final ballot, carried under the supervision of Elisabeth Carter of Keele University as the Senior Returning Officer.

Each stage is organised electronically via the My ECPR area on the website. Those wishing to take part in any of the stages, therefore, must have a My ECPR account.

Nominations

Any Affiliate from a Full Member institution may post their name on the ECPR website as a possible candidate for the Speaker of the ECPR Council position.

Nominations must come from the individuals themselves; indirect nominations (e.g., by other individuals or Standing Groups) will not be possible. However, nominees may list any pre-endorsements from a Standing Group or other association in their accompanying statement.

When making their nomination, the candidate will be allowed to add a statement of up to 500 words, covering basic biographical information, the motivation for standing for election, and any pre-endorsements.

If the Nominee is not currently an Official Representative (OR) they must provide confirmation, from their institution and the incumbent OR if applicable, that they will take on the role of OR should they be elected.

Nominees shall be listed in the order in which their nominations were posted on the website.

Endorsements

All Official Representatives of Full Member institutions will be asked to endorse a candidate for the final ballot, based on the following rules:

1. Each OR may endorse one nominee.
2. For inclusion on the final electoral ballot, a nominee must:
   1. receive at least five endorsements;
   2. have endorsements from ORs in at least two countries; and
   3. have endorsements from more than one gender.
3. Endorsements will be public.

If at the conclusion of either the nomination or endorsement period, an insufficient number of candidates are moved forward, the Senior Returning Officer shall have the right to extend the period for nomination and/or endorsement and to postpone the voting period to ensure that enough candidates are on the ballot.

Nominees or candidates may also withdraw their names at any time before the final voting by sending a message to the Senior Returning Officer.

Final Ballot

Once the final ballot of candidates has been determined, all Official Representatives of Full Member institutions will be asked to vote for their preferred candidates.

The Alternative Vote (AV) electoral system shall be used. ORs will be asked to rank-order their preferred candidates. The minimum number of candidates to be rank-ordered for a vote to be valid is one. There is no maximum to the number of candidates that may be rank-ordered.

Pursuant to the AV-method, preference votes will be tallied and transferred until a candidate receives an absolute majority (50% + one vote) of the valid votes.