Rule 37 Election of Members of the Committee

37.1 The election of Members of the Committee shall be conducted by secret ballot except that, where the number of candidates within geographical distribution is the same as or less than the number of seats to be filled, the candidates shall be declared elected without the need to hold a ballot.

37.2 Before the election begins, the Chairperson shall appoint two tellers from among the delegates present; She or he shall hand to them the list of States Parties entitled to vote and the list of candidate States Parties. She or he shall announce the number of seats to be filled.

37.3 The Secretariat shall prepare for each delegation having the right to vote an envelope without any distinguishing mark and separate ballot papers, one for each of the electoral groups. The ballot paper for each electoral group shall bear the names of all the candidate States Parties in that electoral group.

37.4 Each delegation shall cast its vote by encircling the names of those States for which it desires to vote.

37.5 The tellers shall collect from each delegation the envelope containing the ballot papers and shall count the votes, under the supervision of the Chairperson.

37.6 The absence of any ballot paper in the envelope shall be considered an abstention.

37.7 Ballot papers on which more names have been circled than there are seats to be filled as also those containing no indication as to the intention of the voter shall be considered invalid.

37.8 The counting of the votes for each electoral group shall take place separately. The tellers shall open the envelopes, one by one, and shall sort the ballot papers into electoral groups. The votes cast for the candidate States Parties shall be entered on lists prepared for that purpose.

37.9 The Chairperson shall declare elected those candidates who obtain the greatest number of votes up to the number of seats to be filled. If two or more candidates obtain the same number of votes, and, as a result, there are still more candidates than seats to be filled, there shall be a second secret ballot restricted to those candidates who obtained the same number of votes. If in the second ballot two or more candidates obtain the same number of votes, the Chairperson shall draw lots to decide the elected candidate. 

37.10 When the counting of the votes is completed, the Chairperson shall announce the results of the ballot separately for each of the electoral groups.

IX SECRETARIAT OF THE ASSEMBLY  

Rule 38 Secretariat

38.1 The Director-General of UNESCO or her or his representative shall participate in the work of the Assembly, its subsidiary bodies and the Bureau without the right to vote. She or he may, at any time, make either oral or written statements to the Assembly on any question under discussion.

38.2 The Director-General of UNESCO shall appoint an official of the Secretariat of UNESCO to act as Secretary to the Assembly, as well as other officials who shall together constitute the Secretariat of the Assembly.

38.3 The Secretariat shall receive, translate and distribute all documents; arrange for the interpretation of the discussions; prepare summary records; and publish the adopted resolutions and distribute them to the States Parties.

38.4 The Secretariat shall also perform all other duties necessary for the proper conduct of the work of the Assembly.

X AMENDMENT AND SUSPENSION OF THE RULES OF PROCEDURE  

Rule 39 Amendment

The Assembly may amend the present Rules of Procedure by a decision taken by a two-thirds majority of the States Parties present and voting, except when they reproduce provisions of the Convention.

Rule 40 Suspension

The Assembly may suspend the application of any of the present Rules of Procedure, except when they reproduce provisions of the Convention, by a decision taken by a two-thirds majority of the States Parties present and voting.