CHAPTER VI: VOTING

Rule 33: Right to Vote

Each Ordinary Member Delegation shall have the right to vote. An Ordinary Member Delegation shall have one vote, may represent itself only and may vote in its name only.

Rule 34: Required Majorities

(1) All decisions of all bodies shall be made as far as possible by consensus.

(2) If it is not possible to attain consensus, the following decisions shall require a majority of two-thirds of the Ordinary Member Delegations present and voting:

(i) adoption by the Conference, meeting in Plenary, of these Rules, and, once adopted, any amendment to them,

(ii) decision by any of the bodies to reconsider, under Rule 32, a matter decided,

(iii) adoption by the Conference, meeting in Plenary, of the new Act and the Regulations,

whereas all other decisions of all bodies shall require a simple majority of the Ordinary Member Delegations present and voting.

(3) “Voting” means casting an affirmative or negative vote; express abstention or non-voting shall not be counted.

Rule 35: Requirement of Seconding; Method of Voting

(1) Any proposal for amendment made by a Member Delegation shall be put to a vote only if seconded by at least one other Member Delegation.

(2) Voting on any question shall be by show of hands unless a Member Delegation, seconded by at least one other Member Delegation, requests a roll-call, in which case it shall be by roll-call. The roll shall be called in the alphabetical order of the names in French of the States, beginning with the Member Delegation whose name shall have been drawn by lot by the Presiding Officer.

Rule 36: Conduct During Voting

(1) After the Presiding Officer has announced the beginning of voting, the voting shall not be interrupted except on a point of order concerning the actual conduct of the voting.

(2) The Presiding Officer may permit a Member Delegation to explain its vote or its abstention, either before or after the voting.

Rule 37: Division of Proposals

Any Member Delegation may move that parts of the basic proposal or of any proposal for amendment be voted upon separately. If the request for division is objected to, the motion for division shall be put to a vote. In addition to the proposer of the motion for division, permission to speak on that motion shall be given only to one Member Delegation seconding and two Member Delegations opposing it. If the motion for division is carried, all parts of the basic proposal or of the proposal for amendment that have been separately approved shall again be put to the vote, together, as a whole. If all operative parts of the basic proposal or of the proposal for amendment have been rejected, the basic proposal or the proposal for amendment shall be considered rejected as a whole.

Rule 38: Voting on Proposals for Amendment

(1) Any proposal for amendment shall be voted upon before the text to which it relates is voted upon.

(2) Proposals for amendment relating to the same text shall be put to the vote in the order of their substantive remoteness from the said text, the most remote being put to the vote first and the least remote being put to the vote last. If, however, the adoption of any proposal for amendment necessarily implies the rejection of any other proposal for amendment or of the original text, such other proposal or text shall not be put to the vote.

(3) If one or more proposals for amendment relating to the same text are adopted, the text as amended shall be put to the vote.

(4) Any proposal the purpose of which is to add to or delete from a text shall be considered a proposal for amendment.

Rule 39: Voting on Proposals for Amendment on the Same Question

Subject to Rule 38, where two or more proposals relate to the same question, they shall be put to the vote in the order in which they have been submitted, unless the body concerned decides on a different order.

Rule 40: Equally Divided Votes

(1) Subject to paragraph (2), if a vote is equally divided on a matter that calls only for a simple majority, the proposal shall be considered rejected.

(2) If a vote is equally divided on a proposal for electing a given person to a given position as officer and the nomination is maintained, the vote shall be repeated, until either that nomination is adopted or rejected or another person is elected for the position in question.