Information about Nominations to the Executive Committee

Are you interested in nominating a suitable person as a candidate for election to the Executive Committee of the New Zealand Buddhist Council for the 2024-25 term?

Every organisation that is a current Member has the right to nominate a person as a candidate for election to the Executive Committee, but is not obliged to do so.

Here’s how the process works.

1. Nominations are made by organisation Members. Nominations from Members must be received by Friday 26 April 2024, before the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Saturday 11 May 2024, by completing and submitting the online Nomination Form by the due date. The person completing and submitting the Nomination Form on behalf of an organisation Member must confirm that the person nominated understands the role and is willing to serve.  

If your organisation already has someone serving on the Executive, you may nominate them again if they are willing to serve for another year. Or you may wish to nominate someone else. If your organisation doesn’t have anyone on the Executive, you may nominate someone if you wish.  

2. What is required of each person serving on the Executive. The Executive Committee is an active working group. Each person serving on the committee must be willing to do a share of the work we collectively decide to undertake.  We hold at least 6 meetings a year. Meetings are online using Zoom video-conferencing, or single issues may be decided by email. Meeting Agendas and supporting documents are held online in Google Drive.  If a person who might be nominated is unsure if they would be suited to this work they should contact the current Chair to discuss what they might usefully bring to NZBC. 

3. The selection process. The AGM elects up to nine Member-nominated positions on the Executive Committee, three for each of the three major branches, or vehicles, of Buddhism, namely Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. The candidates nominated by current Members are for the vehicle to which the nominating Member belongs. If three or fewer nominations are received for any vehicle, an election is not required — the candidates in that vehicle will be declared elected. If more than three nominations are received for any of the vehicles, then an election will be held to fill the three positions for that vehicle. All current Members (i.e. organisations paid up for 2024-2025) are then eligible to vote on the three people to represent each vehicle with more than three candidates.

After nominations close, if elections are needed ballots will be sent to Members by email. Voting will be by ballot, either cast during the AGM or emailed to the Secretary and received before the AGM.

4. Additional appointments and Officers. The nine people voted to the Executive by organisation Members may then appoint up to five additional people to the Executive, to add necessary skills and representation to the Executive Committee. The Executive then elects officers: Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, and decides on roles including Membership Secretary and Webmaster. 

If you are interested in the details, the relevant sections of the NZBC constitution can be found on our website at https://www.buddhistcouncil.org.nz/constitution/ 

update: 24th April, 2023