Rules and Method of Election for the First Elected International Committee of Phoenician and Punic Studies
The Committee
- The committee will consist of 5 elected members, to which one representative from the previous and one from the next local organizing institution of the International Congress of Phoenician and Punic Studies will be added, making a total of 7 persons.
- The term of each committee lasts for the interval between two congresses.
- A committee member may be elected for multiple terms, with a maximum of 2 consecutive terms.
- Membership on the committee does not confer any privileges, financial or otherwise, to elected members.
The Candidates
- Eligibility requires holding an academic, governmental, or equivalent professional position.
- Candidates must choose to stand for election in one geographically defined research area, based on the following classification:
- West Mediterranean (Iberian Peninsula, Balearic Islands)
- North Africa (from the Maghreb to the Nile Valley)
- Central-East Mediterranean (Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, other Central Mediterranean islands, Italian and Greek Peninsulas, Crete, Aegean Islands)
- Eastern Mediterranean (Cyprus, Anatolia, Levant)
- Other cases (Multiregional or non-geographically defined research)
- Candidates must submit their applications directly to the Committee ad interim email address, including, in the language of their choice: (1) a brief statement outlining their professional position (with links to professional webpages); (2) a justification of the geographical area for which they wish to stand; and (3) the motivations and aims of their candidacy. The three points together should not exceed one page of text.
The Election and the Electors
- To qualify as a voter, one must either be a participant in the Malta International Congress or have registered as an eligible voter with the transitional committee in response to one of our several mailings.
- Voting for the new committee will take place in person at the Malta International Congress, although alternative ways of voting will be made available.
- Each voter may cast a single ballot, selecting five candidates, choosing one candidate for each of the five areas in which the candidates stand.
The Process
- The period for submitting candidacies will open on 15 June and close on 1 September 2026.
- Between September and the Congress in Malta, the candidates and their statements will be published on this election webpage.
- Both in‑person voting and the alternative forms of voting will take place during the days of the Malta Congress, in a manner that will be announced in advance.
Counting and appointment
- The votes will be counted immediately after the closing of the voting period, with measures in place to ensure transparency. The results will in any case be communicated at the Malta Congress, before its closure.
- The 5 researchers who receive the highest number of votes within their respective area of affiliation will be declared members of the new committee.
- If no candidates are presented in one or more areas of affiliation, the remaining seats (up to the total of 5 elected members) will be filled by the candidates with the highest number of votes among those remaining in the other areas.
- If, at any point in these procedures, a tie occurs between candidates, one of them will be selected by lot.
- To these 5 elected members, one member of the organizing committee of the Malta Congress will be added, as well as—once known—one member of the organizing committee of the subsequent congress, both designated by their respective local committees.
Beginning of the functions of the elected committee
- The newly elected committee will begin its functions immediately after its election, and in any case before the end of the closing session of the Malta Congress. At that moment, the ad interim committee will cease to function, thus bringing the transition process towards an elected international committee to a close.
- In addition to promoting and supporting the organisation of the next international congress, the new committee may legitimately assume new functions, such as the creation of a scholarly association or other institutionalised forms of support for Phoenician and Punic studies.
- The elected committee may also freely define its own internal procedures and modify the method for electing future committees.
