Candidacy period for CSM6 to open soon

With Council of Stellar Management due to leave office on April 6th, it's almost time for the candidacy period for CSM6 to open up. The dates for the next election period are as follows:

February 9th to 23rd – Candidacy application period opens
March 2nd – Publication of the list of approved candidates
March 9th – Voting opens
March 23rd – Voting closes
March 30th – Results announced
April 6th – CSM 6 takes office
April 2012 – CSM 7 takes office

The time of the CSM summits in Reykjavik have not yet been finalised, although these will be announced when we open up the candidacy application period.

The only major change to this schedule compared to previous CSM election periods is the reduction of the amount of time between the publication of the list of approved candidates and the beginning of the voting period. This change has been enacted for reasons both of convenience for the overall schedule and that this time has in previous elections remained mostly unused by a large majority of candidates. The question of how acceptable such a change would be was put to the CSM and it did not meet with any major concerns.

We shall, however, be changing the application requirements. When applying for candidacy in CSM6, we will require that at least a basic campaign message stating what you are campaigning for and/or who you are representing is provided. There will also be a maximum limit of 200 words for the message. Failing to provide this will unfortunately result in us being unable to accept your application. This requirement is being added for the convenience of voters, to assist them in determining who they would like to vote for.

To apply for candidacy in the elections you will need to provide a scan or reasonable quality photograph of a currently valid passport. This is in order to prove that you can travel internationally to attend the CSM summits in Iceland. So if you want to run and do not have a passport as of yet, you have until February 23rd to acquire one! In addition to this you will need to be at least 21 years of age as of April 6th, 2011.

If you have any comments or questions, please head on over to the comments thread on the forums.

-CCP Diagoras