Elections
Pact Elections: Guidance on becoming a Council member
The Pact Council is the body that oversees all of the work of the Pact executive, approves all operational budgets, financial plans and debates and agrees all of Pact's policies, campaigns, terms of trade and collective agreements. Please note that the current council will hold office during 2011 and 2012 with elections taking place in December 2012.
The Council meets on the first Wednesday of every month excluding August. Meetings start at 8.30am and are normally completed by 10.30am. Expenses are available for members of Council who have to travel from outside of London including overnight accomodation if required.
Leading chief executives from across the media sectors are regularly invited to attend to give their views and have their ideas and policies challenged by the Pact Council.
The work of Pact over the years has been guided and developed by the Pact Council, which lies at the heart of its success and effectiveness. Everything that Pact seeks to achieve on behalf of its members is informed and directed by the members via the Pact Council and the various working groups and committees. This collective intellectual and commercial 'muscle' ensures that the executive are focused on your interests in everything that they do.
If you want to stand for election you need to complete a self-nomination form. Once this has been submitted and checked for eligibility every full voting member will receive a unique code that will allow them to cast their votes on a secure website. Every candidate has the opportunity to outline why they should receive your vote in their own words. The only restriction to this is length where we have to limit this to 100 words.
Once a member has cast their vote it will not be possible to change it as the system will only allow members to cast their vote once. However, don't rush as you will have several weeks to read and consider the various candidates' prospectus before you have to cast your vote.
The following seats are up for election:
- 1 Chair - to be voted by all full members
- Welsh National Rep - to be voted by full Welsh members
- Scottish National Rep - to be voted by full Scottish members
- Northern Ireland National Rep - to be voted by full Northern Ireland members
- 8 Council seats - to be voted by all full members
Who is eligible to stand and to vote?
Only full members who are eligible to vote or stand for Council. A full member is a Producer member, not a Broadcaster, Subsidiary, Affiliate or Facilitator.
Voting Rights
All members are entitled to attend any Council meeting and speak at these meetings.
There are two types of membership: Full voting members and non-voting members.
Non-voting members are as follows:
- Group Members: Those companies who are wholly owned by a 'parent' company. The 'parent' company is the full voting member. Individuals from the group members can stand for election to Pact Council for all positions or co-option except the position of Chairman. Only full voting members can be elected to this position.
- Facilitator Members: Previously professional services and production finance members.
- Broadcaster Members: The production arms of broadcasters can join Pact, but they have no voting rights and cannot stand for election to Pact Council.
- Affiliate Members: Any Affiliate member can upgrade at any time to full voting member. At the time of writing this would equate to a further £175 (net of VAT) per annum. At the end of the two years at the reduced Affiliate rate, all Affiliates wishing to continue with their Pact membership have to upgrade at that time and will become a full voting member for elections, EGMs, etc.
All of the above can become full voting members (apart from 3) on the payment of the full fee. All members who have paid the full fee (based on annual turnover). All members who have paid the full fee are full voting members. Please ensure that you know what type of membership you have. If you are a non-voting member you cannot stand for election to Pact or vote in the election.
Any of the above (apart from 3) can also change the type of membership, i.e. Affiliate to full voting or a Facilitator to full voting member. In addition, any full voting member who is/becomes subject to a dominant influence of a broadcaster is required to notify the Pact Council and their membership category will be changed accordingly.
Co-option:
After the new Council is elected, if it judges there to be a lack of members from the following sections: film, interactive, English regions, children's and distribution membership, then the Pact Council has the duty to co-opt other individuals to arrive at a balance and experienced Council.
Pact Council will take into account the skills and experience of the elected Council members and agree who else should be co-opted to ensure that each section of the membership has at least 1 voice while seeking to ensure that the board itself remains effective and dynamic.
This also means that if you want to participate and stand for election but are unsuccessful in achieving the vote required you can indicate on your nomination form of you would be prepared to be co-opted.
All members who are elected to Pact Council will serve for a period of 2 years and are full legal directors of the company. All members who are co-opted would serve for a period of 1 year and would also be full legal directors of the company. Elected directors have the discretion to extend the period of co-option if the individual is happy to do so.
Period of Office:
If you are elected as a Pact Council member you will only be able to serve for 3 consecutive terms (6 years).
If you are elected as a Chairperson you could serve:
- 1 term (2 years) as a Council member (but this is not required)
- 1 term (2 years) as a chairperson
- Another 1 term (2 years) as a Council member
At the end of this you have to retire from Pact Council
If you are elected as a Nations director you can serve up to 3 consecutive terms (i.e. 6 years).
If you are elected to Pact Council but not as the Chairperson or Nations director you can also serve up to 3 consecutive terms, i.e. 6 years.
You can of course be elected for 1 term and then choose not to stand again for another term. Then perhaps some years later stand again for election for another term of office.
