Since sending out the message about Board Seat 14, I received the
following correction/clarification from Lori Schulman on behalf of
the CSG:

"We will honor the 2018 agreement for the current seat selection but
  not agree to it for the future. That message has gotten muddled. It
  was not our intention to re-open the 2018 agreement for this round
  but for 2026.  However, we have tied these 2 issues procedurally. We
  would like a promise from NCSG to revisit the agreement as the current
  agreement is not satisfactory and, apparently, may not have been done
  in transparency with our side of the house.  We will fill the 2023 seat
  according to the 2018 terms provided the 2018 terms are reopened with
  an eye toward a procedure that would end a stalemate after a certain
  period of time or after a certain number of rounds.  We agree that it
  is important to work together. However, we are not in agreement with
  processes that do not have any remedies for a disagreement or
  stalemate."

	Julf

On 04/06/2023 16:24, Johan Helsingius wrote:
> Dear NCSG members,
> 
> The GNSO nominates two members for the ICANN Board of Directors.
> Seat 13 is nominated by the Contracted Parties House, and Seat
> 14 is nominated by the Non-Contracted Parties House.
> 
> Earlier this year the Non-Contracted Parties House started its
> discussions regarding nominations for the Board Seat 14. This position
> is currently held by Matthew Shears and, for the past years, the
> nomination process was composed by conversations between both NCSG and
> the CSG about possible candidates, as well as a later consensus
> agreement on the final name.
> 
> The deadline for the nomination was March 29, but so far the NCPH hasn’t
> nominated anyone. The delay in the nomination causes issues of planning
> and continuity for the Board and makes it hard for NomCom to meet the
> regional diversity requirements for their appointees to the Board. The
> current delay is not yet a disaster from an operational point of view,
> as the change of seat holders only becomes effective at the AGM
> (ICANN78), and in case the two stakeholder groups in NCPH fail to reach
> consensus and no-one is nominated by then, the current seat holder will
> stay in position until a successor is appointed.
> 
> The current process for Board Seat 14 nomination, as described in Annex
> 7 of the GNSO Operating Procedures, was agreed to by both NCSG and CSG
> and approved by the Board in 2018. The agreement makes a very conscious
> choice of a process that aims at finding a mutually agreeable candidate.
> This approach is in line with the ICANN consensus-oriented
> multistakeholder ethos, as it fosters compromise, constant conversation
> and healthy collaboration between both NCPH  houses, and was chosen
> instead of a simpler mechanism based on CSG and NCSG taking turns
> electing the nominee that could lead to a more polarized and unstable
> result.
> 
> The downside of this process is that it relies on good faith and
> willingness to find a solution by all parties, and it often takes a
> significant amount of time to arrive at a consensus. The spirit of
> cooperation within the Non-Contracted Party House of the GNSO has
> suffered from the lack of spaces to allow for face-to-face interaction
> between our members and leadership teams, as well as the COVID-19
> pandemic and fully virtual meetings that caused smaller levels of
> interaction.
> 
> In January 2023, after thoughtful consideration about possible nominees,
> our SG informed the CSG that we would like Matthew to continue for one
> more term. We were informed the CSG was assessing  prospective
> candidates, and one of them would be Matthew. In February, we were told
> that the CSG had rejected Matthew, and picked two other candidates. One
> of the two then had to withdraw due to the Bylaws stating that both
> GNSO-appointed Board members can’t be from the same geographical region,
> ruling out candidates from North America.
> 
> Our team interviewed the remaining CSG candidate, but after assessing
> his CV and answers during the interview we found him not suitable.
> Following the Annex 7 process, at the end of March we proposed an
> alternative candidate, Rafik Dammak, but so far the CSG has not been in
> contact with Rafik in order to set up an interview or ask any questions.
> It appears the CSG would prefer to change the nomination procedures so
> that instead of agreeing to a compromise candidate, the CSG and NCSG
> would take turns nominating the Board member every 3 to 9 years
> (depending on how many terms the Board seat nominee gets). The NCSG
> leadership disagrees with the need for changing the rules, and feel that
> discussing changing the rules before looking at the overall issues of
> cooperation in the NCPH is putting the cart before the horse.  NCSG
> recognizes that solving the Board 14 seat is an urgent matter and we
> trust that the agreed upon process will be followed.
> 
> The NCSG leadership believes we have fully followed both the letter and
> the spirit of the process, and in order to find a solution, we have
> agreed to a mediation process headed by ICANN Conflict Resolution
> Specialist Melissa Peters Allgood (and we are very thankful for her
> helpful assistance and expertise), but unfortunately the CSG and the
> NCSG have failed to agree on the scope and parameters of the mediation.
> 
> We are hoping to have a meeting with the CSG leadership at ICANN77 to
> discuss improving the working relationship within the NCPH, but we also
> feel nominating the candidate for Seat 14 is the first priority. We are
> sure our counterparts in the CSG leadership feel the same, and that we
> will all do our utmost to jointly find a solution by following the
> spirit and letter of the Annex 7 of the GNSO Operating Procedures.
> 
> 	Julf