Speaker of Council Elections 2025

Eligibility criteria

You must be affiliated with an Full ECPR Member institution to stand for election for the Speaker of Council. Only self-nominations are accepted.

Requirements

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

Voting

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

Election process

The Speaker of Council election is carried out in three stages under the supervision of Elisabeth Carter of Keele University as the Senior Returning Officer.

Each stage is organised via My ECPR, so you will require an account to take part.

Nominees or candidates may also withdraw at any time before the final voting by notifying the Senior Returning Officer.

Nominations

To stand for election as Speaker of the ECPR Council, you must be affiliated with an ECPR Full Member institution and nominate yourself via this form. Only self-nominations are accepted.

If you're not currently an Official Representative (OR), you must provide confirmation from your institution (and the current OR, if applicable) that you will assume the OR role if elected.

To apply, you will need to submit a 500-word statement including:

• Your biography
• Why you wish to stand for election
• Any endorsements from Standing Groups or associations (optional)

Nominations will be listed in the order they are submitted.

Endorsements

During this phase, each Official Representatives of a Full Member institution will be asked to endorse one candidate for the final ballot. Endorsements will be public.

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.

If there are not enough candidates moving forward, the Senior Returning Officer may extend the nomination or endorsement period and delay the voting process.

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 using the Alternative Vote (AV) electoral system.

• 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.

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