FOURTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA

Action to be taken regarding the appointment
of the Director-General

Report of the Officers of the Governing Body

1. At its 269th Session (June 1997), the Governing Body approved without discussion the inclusion in the agenda of its 270th Session, in accordance with article 9.2 of its Standing Orders, of the question of the action to be taken regarding the appointment of the Director-General.

2. The action to be taken consists of two elements: the date of the election and the appointment procedure.

3. As far as the date of the election of the new Director-General is concerned, the Officers of the Governing Body propose that the appointment should take place either --

• at the Governing Body's 271st Session (March 1998), or
• at its 273rd Session (November 1998),

it being understood that the Governing Body will take up this question at the beginning of the session chosen, in private sitting. The Officers of the Governing Body point out that, until the expiry of his term of office at midnight on 3 March 1999, the Director-General will continue to exercise fully the powers vested in him by the Constitution.

4. As far as the appointment procedure is concerned, it should be recalled that, in order to complement the provisions of the Constitution and the Standing Orders, the Governing Body adopted at its 240th Session (May-June 1988) a body of "Rules governing the election of the Director-General", which "subject to future amendments, may remain valid for any future elections for the post of Director-General".⁽¹⁾  Having regard to the fairly detailed discussion of, as well as experience on two occasions with, these Rules, the Officers see no reason to propose amendments to them for the time being. The Governing Body may therefore wish to confirm that the Rules adopted in 1988 as set out in the Appendix to this paper will apply to the aforementioned appointment.

5. It should be emphasized that, if the Governing Body approves the two recommendations set out above, candidatures submitted by a member State of the Organization or by a member of the Governing Body will have to be sent to the Chairperson of the Governing Body at the latest one month prior to the date of the opening of the session chosen. In this connection, the Governing Body may wish to instruct the Office to notify all the members of the Governing Body and all the States Members of the Organization of the precise date and time at which the list of candidatures will be closed in the light of the decision taken as regards paragraph 3 above, and of the date on which the session chosen will open.

Geneva, 13 November 1997.

Points for decision:

Paragraph 3;
Paragraph 4;
Paragraph 5.

Appendix

Rules governing the election of the Director-General
(adopted by the Governing Body on 23 June 1988,
at its 240th Session)

A. Candidatures

(1) Candidatures for the post of Director-General shall be sent to the Chairman of the Governing Body of the ILO at the latest one month prior to the date set by the Governing Body for the election.

(2) In order to be considered these candidatures must be submitted by a member State of the Organization or by a member of the Governing Body.

(3) Candidatures submitted in accordance with the above-mentioned conditions shall be made known to the members of the Governing Body by the Chairman immediately after they have been received.

B. Majority

(4) To be elected, a candidate must receive the votes of more than one-half of the members of the Governing Body entitled to vote.

C. Election procedure

(5) On the date set for the election, as many ballots shall be held as are necessary to determine which of the candidates has obtained the majority required by Rule (4) above.

(6) (i) After each ballot the candidate who has obtained the lowest number of votes shall be eliminated.

     (ii) If two or more candidates obtain simultaneously the lowest number of votes, they shall be eliminated together.

(7) If in the ballot between the remaining candidates they receive the same number of votes and a further ballot still does not produce a majority for one of them, or if one candidate remains but does not obtain the majority required by Rule (4) above in a further ballot in which his or her name is submitted to the Governing Body for a final vote, the Governing Body may postpone the election and freely set a new deadline for the submission of candidatures.

1.  GB.240/18/24/D.1, paragraph 11.

For further information, please contact the Official Relations Branch at Tel: +41.22.799.7732, Fax: +41.22.799.8944 or by e-mail: dale@ilo.org