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Questions and Answers What would happen if an allocated ...
Questions and Answers

What would happen if an allocated seat remained vacant because an electoral group has fewer candidates than the number of seats it is entitled to?

With regard to the number of candidatures presented by an electoral group, it is worth recalling Resolution 1 EXT.GA 3 on the revision of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly (in 2014), by which the General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention "reiterate[d] its strong request to States Parties and electoral groups to provide a sufficient number of candidates for each seat and each election to ensure a genuine choice at each election.”

Nevertheless, in the event that an electoral group presents fewer candidates than seats allocated to that group, the General Assembly should be informed at the beginning of the session, and before the elections begin, so that the General Assembly can take a decision on the seat(s) that will remain vacant: allocation within the open seats, allocation to another electoral group, etc. Indeed, Rule 14.1.e) of the Rules of Procedure stipulates that "[i]n case the above formula [note: formula describing the distribution of seats within electoral groups] cannot be practically applied, an exceptional arrangement may be made to accommodate such special circumstances." In any event, the remaining vacant seat(s) shall be filled at the same session and not at subsequent elections, the Committee being composed of 21 members.

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Code: 1EXTGA 3

The General Assembly,

  1. Having examined Documents WHC-14/1EXT.GA/3 and WHC-14/1EXT.GA/INF.3,
  2. Recalling Resolution 19 GA 4 adopted at its 19th session (UNESCO, 2013),
  3. Thanking H.E. Ambassador Jean-Frédéric Jauslin (Switzerland) and the open-ended Working Group for the revision of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention, for the work accomplished,
  4. Decides to amend its Rules of Procedure as follows (amendments are in strikethrough and in bold):

Rule 13 - Procedures for the presentation of candidatures to the World Heritage Committee[1]

13.1    The Secretariat shall ask all States Parties, at least three months prior to the opening of the General Assembly, whether they intend to stand for election to the World Heritage Committee. If so, its candidature should be sent to the Secretariat at least six weeks prior to the opening of the General Assembly.

13.2   Members of the World Heritage Committee may stand again for election after a gap
of 4 years 6 years after the expiry of their mandate.
13.3    At least four weeks prior to the opening of the General Assembly the Secretariat shall send to all States Parties the provisional list of States Parties candidates. The Secretariat will also provide information on the status of all compulsory and voluntary contributions to the World Heritage Fund made by each of the candidates. This list of candidatures will be revised as necessary.
13.4    This list of candidatures shall be finalised 48 hours before the opening of the General Assembly. No other candidatures nor payments of compulsory and voluntary contributions to the World Heritage Fund (for the purpose of presenting a candidature to the Committee) will be accepted in the 48-hour period prior to the opening of the General Assembly.
 
Rule 14 - Election of members of the World Heritage Committee
 
14.1    a) The election of members of the World Heritage Committee shall be conducted by secret ballot whenever five or more delegations having the right to vote so request, or if the Chairperson so decides.
b) In case one or more electoral group(s), as defined by the UNESCO General Conference at its most recent session[2], might have no State Party in the composition of the next Committee[3], one seat per such electoral group(s) shall be reserved. The election of the members of the World Heritage Committee shall be conducted on the basis of the composition of the electoral groups of UNESCO, as determined by the UNESCO General Conference at its most recent session, it being understood that ‘Group V’ shall consist of two separate groups, for the African States and Arab States respectively.
c) Notwithstanding, at each election, one seat shall be reserved for States Parties with no property on the World Heritage List. Seats shall be allocated for each electoral group as follows: two (2) seats for Group I, two (2) seats for Group II, two (2) seats for Group III, three (3) seats for Group IV, four (4) seats for Group Va, two (2) seats for Group Vb. An additional seat shall be allocated for Group III and Group IV on a rotational basis.
d) Notwithstanding, at each election, due consideration shall be given to the election of at least one State Party which has never served as a Member of the World Heritage Committee.
e) In case the above formula cannot be practically applied, an exceptional arrangement may be made to accommodate such special circumstances.
d) f) Ballot(s) for reserved allocated seat(s) shall precede the ballot(s) for the remaining seats to be filled. Unsuccessful candidates in a ballot for any reserved allocated seat shall be eligible to stand for election in subsequent ballot(s).
14.2    Before the election begins, the Chairperson shall appoint two tellers from among the delegates present; he/she shall hand to them the list of States entitled to vote and the list of States candidates. He/She shall announce the number of seats to be filled.
14.3    The Secretariat shall distribute to the delegations a voting paper in the form of a list of all the States which are candidates.
14.4    Each delegation shall cast its vote by encircling the names of those States for which it desires to vote.
14.5    The tellers shall collect from each delegation their voting paper and shall proceed to count the votes, under the supervision of the Chairperson.
14.6    Voting papers on which all names of States have been circled shall be considered to be abstentions.
14.7    Voting papers on which more names have been circled than there are seats to be filled shall be considered invalid.
14.8       a) Ballot for the allocated seats
In all ballots, The candidate(s) obtaining in the first round, an absolute majority (more than half of the valid votes cast by States Parties present and voting) the highest number of votes shall be declared elected in the sequential order of the number of votes obtained from the highest to the lowest, up to the number of seat(s) to be filled. If there still remain seat(s) to be filled, there shall be a second round. In case two or more candidates obtain the same number of votes for the seat(s) remaining to be filled, a second round shall be held for those candidates to fill those remaining seat(s).
b) Ballot for the open (non allocated) seats
The candidate(s) obtaining in the first round, more than half of the valid votes cast by States Parties present and voting shall be declared elected in the sequential order of the number of votes obtained from the highest to the lowest, up to the number of seat(s) to be filled. If there still remain seat(s) to be filled, there shall be a second round.
14.9   In the second round, the candidate(s) obtaining the greatest highest number of votes, up to the number of seat(s) to be filled, shall be declared elected.
14.10 If in the second round, two or more candidates obtain the same number of votes, and, as a result, the number of these candidates is greater than the remaining number of seats to be filled, there shall be an additional round of voting restricted to those candidates who obtained the same number of votes. If in this additional round of voting, two or more candidates obtain the same number of votes, the Chairperson shall decide by drawing lots among them in order to allocate the remaining seat(s).
14.11 After each round, the Chairperson shall announce the results.
 
5. Reiterates its strong request to States Parties and electoral groups to provide a sufficient number of candidates for each seat and each election to ensure a genuine choice at each election;
6. Also decides that the rotational order for the attribution of the floating seat for Group III and Group IV shall be decided by the General Assembly of States Parties at its 20th ordinary session in 2015.
7. Further decides to introduce a standard candidature format for the presentation of experts (model to be developed by the Secretariat);
8. Requests the World Heritage Centre to develop a standard candidature format for the presentation of experts to be submitted to the General Assembly of States Parties at its 20th ordinary session in 2015.

[1] Resolution 13 GA 9 (paragraph 6) invites the States Parties to the World Heritage Convention, to voluntarily reduce their term of office from six to four years.

[2] It being understood that “Group V” shall consist of two separate groups for the African and Arab States.

[3] That is to say, that either there is no State Party in the composition of the Committee from a given electoral group at the beginning of the ordinary session of the General Conference, or that the term of office of all States Parties from a given electoral group expires at the end of the ordinary session of the General Conference.

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