1. Status
1.1 The Political Communication Section is integral part of ECREA and operates under its authority. While the section is autonomous in deciding on its own affairs, it does so within the framework of ECREA statutes and regulations, and the decisions of the ECREA Executive Board.
2. Membership
2.1 The membership of the Political Communication Section is constituted by ECREA members.
2.2 ECREA members can join the section by registering through the ECREA intranet.
3. Section Management Team, elections, terms of office
3.1 The Section Management Team consists of a Chair and two Vice Chairs.
3.2 The Section Management Team is accountable to the annual Business Meeting of the Political Communication Section (see Section 4) and reports to the ECREA Executive Board.
3.3 The Section Management Team is responsible for the day-to-day running of the section, proposing initiatives for the further development of the section and for implementing the decisions made by the membership.
3.4 The Section Management Team is responsible for the Yearly Report to be submitted to the ECREA Executive Board and to be published on the section’s website.
3.5 The members of the Section Management Team are chosen every two years by the section’s membership.
3.6 The election of the Section Management Team takes place at the Business Meeting or, if a Business Meeting cannot be convened, by e-mail.
3.7 The incumbent Chair is responsible for inviting candidacies two months before an election. In consultation with the Vice Chairs the Chair will nominate a person from the membership of the section who will be responsible for collating the nominations and organising the election at the Business Meeting.
3.8 Candidates should clearly indicate for which office (Chair or Vice Chair) they are putting themselves forward. A candidate is elected on the basis of a simple majority vote. If more than one candidate achieve the same number of votes, a run-off round will be conducted to determine the winning candidate.
3.9 The maximum term of office for any member of the Section Management Team is six consecutive years. It is recommended that the Chair does not remain in office for longer than two consecutive terms, i.e. four years.
4. Business Meeting
4.1 The Business Meeting is the primary decision making body of the section and
represents the membership of the section.
4.2 The incumbent Chair is responsible for setting up an annual Business Meeting, preferably organised during an ECREA conference or, if it is impossible to organise such an event, via email. The Business Meeting will be announced two months before the event takes place alongside an invitation to the membership to propose agenda items.
4.3 The section’s Business Meeting is open to all ECREA members to attend.
4.4 The Business Meeting elects the Section Management Team and decides on the general direction of the section, current issues and future initiatives. Changes of the key documents of the section (Modus operandi, Objectives) require the
approval of the membership, represented by the Business Meeting, and the
Executive Board.
4.5 Only members of the section, as defined in Section 2, are eligible to vote for the Section Management Team or on any other decision of the section.
4.6 Decisions taken by the Business Meeting will be communicated to the section’s membership at large within four weeks.