MIA Election & Compliance Commission Call for Nominations – UPDATE
As announced earlier, the position of the President in the MIA Executive Council (EC) became vacant as of March 11th, 2019. According to the MIA Constitution and By Laws, ratified in June 1st, 2013; the President position is to be filled through Bi-Elections within sixty (60) days. Currently, the First Vice President is assuming the duties of the President until elections.
The language pertaining to the by-elections lacks spirit of the constitution to have the voters and candidates being members at least 3 months and 7 months ahead, respectively. Upon further discussion within the Election and Compliance Commission (ECC) committee members, it was decided to make changes to the lists for members who have the right to run and/or vote in the upcoming bi-elections. Please find below the rationale behind the committee’s decision.
Accordingly, bi-elections to fill the President position is pushed back to be held on Saturday, May 11th, 2019 between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM at Waverley Mosque.
The Election and Compliance Commission (ECC) will be fully in charge of the election process. Here are some important updates:
- The updated list of members eligible to run for elections, and list of members eligible to vote are now posted at both the Hazelwood and Grand Mosque announcement.
- Nominations for the vacant EC position (President) are currently open and will be closed on Friday, April 26th, 2019.
- All nominees must be full/active members in good standing as of October 1st, 2018 (Please see the ECC Committee’s rationale below).
- To nominate a candidate for that position, the nominators and the nominee must complete the Nomination Form and submit it signed and scanned to compliance@miaonline.org before the deadline or drop it off in person at the MIA office within the office working hours.
- Upon nominations being closed, ECC will start to review the received nomination forms and during this time it is the applicant responsibility to become available over the phone, by email, and/or in-person to provide any additional information deemed necessary by ECC.
- The final list of eligible candidates meeting all the stipulated requirements will be announced on Friday, May 3rd, 2019.
- The eligible candidates cannot withdraw from the elections after May 7th, 2019.
- On Saturday, May 11th, 2019, voting will take place at the Grand Mosque Gym between 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM. Volunteers will be available to facilitate voting.
- To vote in this election, a person has to be must be a full/active member in good standing as February 1st, 2019 (Please see the ECC Committee’s rationale below).
- The results of the EC bi-elections will be announced the same day of the election as soon as the results have been collected and verified. The elected EC positions will be in charge immediately after the announcement, till the end of the current EC term; December 31, 2019.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact the Election and Compliance Commission at election.compliance@miaonline.org
ECC Committee’s Rationale
As per the current MIA constitution and By Laws, ratified in June 1st, 2013, (Part III, Section 3.2); candidates running for EC positions must be Full Members of the MIA in good standing as of April 1st of the election year. In addition, voting members must be Full Members of the MIA in good standing as of August 1st of the election year (MIA By-Law, Part III, Section 3.3).
The selected dates for the members’ eligibility to run and/or vote in elections were intentionally selected based on the pre-scheduled General Elections for EC members, which to be held in a weekend any time between November 1st and December 10th of the election year (MIA By-Law, Part III, Section 3.1(d)). As a result, the April 1st and August 1st dates will guarantee that MIA members participating in the election process are well established Full Members registered for at least 7 months (for members eligible to run for election) and at least 3 months (for members eligible to vote for election), respectively, before the month of the election. This is a similar case to MIA member who has the right to vote in any special meeting, where the member must be a Full Member for at least 90 days prior to the meeting (MIA By-Law, Part II, Section 2.8).
Moreover, the upcoming bi-elections has to be held within 60 days from the resignation of the President from his position (MIA By-Law, Part III, Section 4.2), which means that the deadline for the bi-elections to fill the vacant EC positions is May 11,2019. Which makes the August 1st date is irrelevant and cannot be accommodated.
Taking all aforementioned factors into consideration, as well as the nature of the bi-elections which is not pre-scheduled as the General Elections, the Election and Compliance Commission (ECC) decided to satisfy the spirit of the constitution and to follow the same routine to decide the eligibility of MIA members to participate in the upcoming bi-election process. As a result, the following criteria were established:
- MIA Members to be eligible to run for bi-elections, must be Full Members in good standing for at least 7 months ahead of the month of the elections (October 1st, 2018, for the upcoming bi-elections scheduled on May 11th, 2019).
- MIA Members to be eligible to vote for bi-elections, must be full members in good standing for at least 3 months ahead of the month of the elections (February 1st, 2019 for the upcoming bi-elections scheduled on May 11th, 2019).
May Allah reward you for all your good deeds.
Best Regards,
Election and Compliance Commission (ECC)