2009 Xaraya PMC Election

Dear Xaraya Community members,

It is time to elect a new Xaraya PMC. In my position as somewhat "de
facto in charge", I am calling for an election.

In an effort to continue the spirit of openness in Xaraya, this election
will take place on the xaraya_devel list, except for the actual voting 
(see below).


Rules
=====

The following rules will hold:

1. The PMC is elected by the development community, that is by those
people who are subscribed to this list as of the time the election 
process begins.

2. The election begins 3 weeks before the leadership posts become
vacant, or (if it is too late already) immediately. The start date for
this election is December 21, 2008.

3. For the following one week any xaraya_devel subscriber may nominate
themselves or others as a candidate PMC member.  The nomination week
starts on December 21, 2008.

4. For one week after that no more candidates may be nominated;
candidates should use this time for campaigning (to make their
identities and positions known). If there are no candidates at the end
of the nomination period then the nomination period is extended for one
further week, repeatedly if necessary. The campaigning week starts on
December 28, 2008.

5. At the end of the campaigning week, the PMC will prepare the ballot
with the names of all candidates. The campaigning week will end on
January 3, 2009.

6. The next week is the polling period during which subscribers may
cast their votes by sending their ballot to the PMC newsgroup
(xaraya_pmc [at] xaraya [dot] com) with the subject "2009 PMC Election
Ballot". Votes in PMC elections are kept secret, even after the election
is finished. The voting period will begin January 4, 2009 and run until
January 10, 2009.

7. The options on the ballot will be those candidates who have
nominated themselves and have not yet withdrawn, plus None Of The
Above.

8. If less than three candidates receive votes or None Of The Above
receives more votes than any candidate, then the election procedure will
be repeated, as many times as necessary.

9. The newly elected PMC member(s) serve(s) for one year from their
election.

Explanations
============
There is a one week period when interested parties make nominations,
followed by a one week period with no nominations (intended for
campaigning), followed by one week for the election itself.

It is expected that candidates will develop platform statements and
publish them on the devel mailing list during the campaign period.

The format of the mail is up to each candidate, but should contain at
least two sections:

    a) Introduction/Biography
    b) Major Goal/Meat of the platform.

Nominations and platform statements are to be sent to this list 
(xaraya_devel [at] xaraya [dot] com).

Subscribers cast their vote by sending their ballot to the PMC
newsgroup. The acting PMC will summarize the vote and announce the
results at the end of the election period. A DDF director will audit
the results.

Dates
=====
Nomination Period: Sun, 21/12/08 00:00 GMT - Sat, 27/12/08 23:59:00 GMT
Campaigning Period: Sun, 28/12/08 00:00 GMT - Sat, 03/01/09 23:59:00 GMT
Election Period: Sun, 04/01/09 00:00 GMT - Sat, 10/01/09 23:59:00 GMT

Revisions
=========
Due to issues raised concering the election process the following 
revisions have been made:

The nomination period has been extended until January 10 2009 23:59:00 
GMT, with the campaign and voting periods delayed accordingly.  The 
following dates supercede those listed above:</p>

Nomination Period: Sun, 21/12/08 00:00 GMT - Sat, 10/01/09 23:59:00 GMT
Campaigning Period: Sun, 11/01/09/12/08 00:00 GMT - Sat, 17/01/09 
23:59:00 GMT
Election Period: Sun, 18/01/09 00:00 GMT - Sat, 24/01/09 23:59:00 GMT