[Chapter-delegates] Petition against the ChAC Steering Committee Elections Results 2026

Tue Nov 18 04:37:30 PST 2025

Dear Christine.
Thank you for your response and clarification and admitting that the issues
I raised actually arose during the election process. However, these are
some of the things we can square in the future elections, it is also clear
that their occurrence affected this current election and therefore puts
this election's outcome into question as to whether it was credible, and
transparent or not.

I am therefore continuing to ask for further clarifications as to whether
the issues raised affected the final results and jeopardized the election's
integrity.
Second to that I would ask why couldn't this election results be
nullified or dismissed now that you have admitted that it was faced with
challenges that put a big question to its integrity.

As we wait to see additional records (which I think could have been readily
available by now because they were used to reliably declare winners), I
petition for the dismissal / nullification of this election and that a
fresh election be held upon rectifying issues raised here and in other
emails shared earlier.

Thank you

On Mon, Nov 17, 2025 at 12:54 PM Christine Saegesser <saegesser at isoc.org>
wrote:

> Dear Alphonce,
>
> Thank you for your message. We fully agree that it is fundamental for the
> ChAC Steering Committee elections (and any other community elections,
> including chapter leadership elections) to be conducted in an open,
> transparent and inclusive manner, with clear rules and guidelines. We are
> confident that this was the case for this year’s ChAC SC elections  and
> will be working with this year's ChAC SC Nominations and Elections Chair,
> Agang K. Ditlhogo from Botswana (and previous ChAC SC member herself), to
> share more details in response to your petition.
>
> Here some quick initial reactions to your points below:
>
> *1. Use of exact terminology: *
> Thank you for pointing this out. This is important indeed and we will make
> sure to revise the wording of these messages for future election processes.
> In the meantime, let me clarify:
>
>    - The ChAC Steering Committee candidates were *nominated* (or
>    self-nominated) by the current ChAC representatives
>    - The ChAC representatives then voted (on behalf of their chapter) to *
>    elect* the 9 ChAC Steering Committee members
>    - *No one was appointed or selected* in this process and we apologise
>    for the misleading terminology used. We will make sure to revise the
>    wording of these messages for future election processes.
>
> *2. Request for additional details surrounding the elections: *
> We will work with the Nominations and Elections Chair on the best way to
> share more details about the election outcomes, participation rates, etc.
>
> *3. Technical error with some of the “regret” messages. *
> This is weird and I apologise for any confusion this may have caused. I’ll
> work with the team to ensure we understand what happened to avoid similar
> errors in the future.
> The list of ChAC SC members elected is the following, as communicated via
> the chapter-delegates list on 11 November:
>
>    - Regional representative North America - Joel Templeman (Canada
>    Manitoba Chapter)
>    - Regional representative Europe - Jordi Domingo-Pascual (Spain
>    Catalonia Chapter)
>    - Regional representative LAC - Flávio Rech Wagner (Brazil Chapter)
>    - Regional representative Africa - Maud Adjeley Ashong Elliot (Ghana
>    Chapter)
>    - Regional representative APAC - Dr. N. Sudha Bhuvaneswari (India
>    Chennai Chapter)
>    - Regional representative Middle East - Heba Sayed Ahmed (Egypt
>    Chapter)
>    - Non-geographical representative - Alejandra Stolk (Venezuela Chapter)
>    - Non-geographical representative - Katarina Gevorgyan (Armenia
>    Chapter)
>    - Non-geographical representative - Thilina Dhanushka Kalahe Pathirana
>    (Norway Chapter)
>
> To ensure diversity, the candidate with the most votes from each region
> has been elected as the regional representative, the three candidates with
> the next highest vote counts were elected as non-geographical
> representatives. The aim of this process is to ensure diversity (see also
> the ChAC Charter
> <https://www.internetsociety.org/chapters/chapters-advisory-council/charter/>).
> There will be no difference with regards to their role on the Steering
> Committee itself.
>
> We hope this helps and will be in touch with Agang, the ChAC SC
> Nominations and Elections Chair for additional details.
>
> Best,
>
> Christine
>
> *Christine Saegesser Baethge,* Sr. Director Chapters and Special
> Interest Groups
> saegesser at isoc.org
>
>
> Discover what we’re proud of in our 2019-2024 Impact Report
> <https://www.internetsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Impact-Report-2019-2024.pdf>
>  ❤️
> Give a gift of opportunity. Donate today <https://bit.ly/3nUsQmJ>.
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>
>
>
> On 16 Nov 2025, at 17:38, Alphonce Odhiambo via Chapter-delegates <
> chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
>
> Dear Elections committee.
> My name is Alphonce Odhiambo , ISOC Kenya Chapter President and Chapter's
> ChAC Representative.
>
> Kenya Chapter participated in the just concluded ChAC Steering Committee
> 2026 elections and based on the provisional results the following
> conflicting observations that requires clarification has been made
> as follows;-
>
> 1. The use of terms , *Appointed and Selected *as quoted below is in
> contrast to the expected terms like *Elected. *According to our
> observation this means that apart from Chapter participating in Elections,
> some backdoor exercises were done which include Appointing Selecting
> members in various positions without clear provisions.
>
> ---Ref 1
>
> *The polls for the 2026 Chapters Advisory Council Steering Committee (ChAC
> SC) elections closed on November 6, 2025. This election filled nine
> positions on the Steering Committee: one representative per region and
> three non-geographical representatives.*
>
> *To ensure diversity, the candidate with the most votes from each region
> has been appointed as the regional representative, while the three
> candidates with the next highest vote counts were selected as
> non-geographical representatives.*
>
>
> *--End ref 1*
> 2. The elections committee has not tabled before the ChAC members the
> election outcome that gave birth to the given names. We lack numbers and
> statistics that can describe the final results; the questions we are asking
> as very simple; How many many Chapters participated ? How many reminders of
> ballots were sent? How many ballots were opened? How many Chapters voted?
> How many did not vote?  What was the individual candidate score? At the
> start of the voting, how secure was the voting system (what can prove that
> it was transparent, verifiable and accountable and tamperproof) ?
>
> 3. We noticed that emails sent to candidates informing them that they did
> not win had errors and individual candidates received emails that were not
> meant for them - for instance, I received regret emails sent to other
> candidates. Another email was also sent claiming that it was a system error
> or confusion.
>
> ---Ref 2
> Hello,
> I want to apologize for a technical error in the previous message: the
> name in the greeting (“Dear [Name],”) was populated incorrectly due to a
> technical error. I’m sorry for any confusion this may have caused.
>
> Please note that the content of the message is still accurate: the
> election results as communicated remain correct.
>
> Thank you for your understanding,
> Rama
> --- End Ref 2
>
> ----------------Ref 3:
> Dear Abdou,
>
>
>
>
>
>
> * Thank you sincerely for your willingness to serve on the 2026 Chapters
> Advisory Council Steering Committee. While we regret to inform you that you
> were not among the nine elected candidates this year, we deeply appreciate
> your commitment and interest in supporting the Council’s work. Your
> dedication to the community and to advancing our shared goals is valued,
> and we hope you’ll consider standing as a candidate in the future. The
> official announcement of the election results will be shared with all
> chapter leaders by 11 November.*
>
>
>
>
>
> *With gratitude, Agang K. Ditlhogo*
>
> *Chair, Nominations and Elections*
>
>
>
> *Rama Rejman*
>
> *Community Compliance and Governance Specialist, Community Engagement*
>
> *Internet Society*
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *Dear Alphonce, Thank you sincerely for your willingness to serve on the
> 2026 Chapters Advisory Council Steering Committee. While we regret to
> inform you that you were not among the nine elected candidates this year,
> we deeply appreciate your commitment and interest in supporting the
> Council’s work. Your dedication to the community and to advancing our
> shared goals is valued, and we hope you’ll consider standing as a candidate
> in the future. The official announcement of the election results will be
> shared with all chapter leaders by 11 November.*
>
>
>
>
>
> *With gratitude, Agang K. Ditlhogo*
>
> *Chair, Nominations and Elections*
>
>
>
> *Rama Rejman*
>
> *Community Compliance and Governance Specialist, Community Engagement*
>
> *Internet Society*
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *Dear Ashirwad, Thank you sincerely for your willingness to serve on the
> 2026 Chapters Advisory Council Steering Committee. While we regret to
> inform you that you were not among the nine elected candidates this year,
> we deeply appreciate your commitment and interest in supporting the
> Council’s work. Your dedication to the community and to advancing our
> shared goals is valued, and we hope you’ll consider standing as a candidate
> in the future. The official announcement of the election results will be
> shared with all chapter leaders by 11 November.*
>
>
>
>
>
> *With gratitude, Agang K. Ditlhogo*
>
> *Chair, Nominations and Elections*
>
>
>
> *Rama Rejman*
>
> *Community Compliance and Governance Specialist, Community Engagement*
>
> *Internet Society*
>
>
> *---End Ref 3 *
>
> Generally we need to have ISOC which is transparent, inclusive and open
> with clear Standard Operation Standards especially at the higher levels
> (Regional and Global) so that local chapters can emulate best practices and
> standards set from the top levels.
>
> How we expect our local Chapters to behave and act otherwise if they can
> clearly see, copy and paste some of these gaps.
> As Kenya Chapter and in my position as Candidate, I do not acknowledge the
> results until the above concerns are addressed with utmost clarity and
> honesty based on factual data.
>
> --
> Kind Regards,
> ------------------------------------
> Eng. Alphonce Odhiambo.
>
> Founder,
> GONLINE AFRICA
> www.gonline.africa
>
> President,
> Internet Society  Kenya Chapter.
> *_____________________________________*
> *---Confidentiality, Integrity, Accountability---*
>
> Money is a by-product of the value you add to the society
>
> *+254 740216370, +254 100 393 693*
> LinkedIn <http://www.linkedin.com/in/eng-alphonce> | Twitter
> <http://www.twitter.com/Eng_alphonce>
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-- 
Kind Regards,
------------------------------------
Eng. Alphonce Odhiambo.

Founder,
GONLINE AFRICA
www.gonline.africa

President,
Internet Society  Kenya Chapter.
*_____________________________________*
*---Confidentiality, Integrity, Accountability---*

Money is a by-product of the value you add to the society

*+254 740216370, +254 100 393 693*
LinkedIn <http://www.linkedin.com/in/eng-alphonce> | Twitter
<http://www.twitter.com/Eng_alphonce>
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