Kenya, Spain, U.S Elected to OGP Steering Committee 

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Sanjay Pradhan
CEO, OGP

Kenya, Spain, and the United States have been elected to serve on the  Steering Committee of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) for a term of three years, beginning on October 1, 2023, in an election that witnessed the second-highest turnout of voters ever in the history of the Partnership

A total of 88% of eligible countries participated in the voting process, reflecting a strong commitment to the principles of the OGP and the importance of promoting transparency, accountability, and citizen participation in government.

On October 1, 2023, three government seats in the Steering Committee (SC) will become vacant as the current terms of Canada, Italy, and Kenya come to an end. Both Canada and Italy will be rotating out of the Steering Committee after serving two consecutive terms, while Kenya is eligible to run for a second term.

On March 24, 2023 an election was held to fill vacant government seats in the OGP Steering Committee. The candidates that contested for the vacant seats were the governments of Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Philippines, Spain, and the United States. The election was administered by an external company, Scytl, to maintain the confidentiality and integrity of the ballots. The election used a ranked voting system in which voters ranked the candidates in order of preference. The top-ranked candidate received 5 points, second place received 4 points, and so on.

The leadership of the Steering Committee consists of a revolving four-member co-chairmanship team (two from government and two from civil society) elected by members of the SC. The four co-chairs make up the Governance and Leadership Subcommittee (GL). SC co-chairs serve for a two-year term, with the first year as ‘incoming’ and the second as ‘lead’ chairs. The current co-chairs are the government of Estonia and Anabel Cruz of ICD Uruguay (Lead co-chair).

The first pair of newly elected co-chairs will follow Estonia and Anabel Cruz and begin their one-year term on October 1, 2023. The second pair will begin as ‘Incoming’ chairs on October 1, 2023, and assume the role of ‘Lead’ chairs for one year on October 1, 2023.

All Steering Committee members, including newly elected, may run to serve as co-chairs. All interested candidates must submit a letter of candidacy addressed to the current SC co-chairs.

The letter of intent, signed at the ministerial level, to the two current co-chairs and send to jaime.mercado@opengovpartnership.org by May 26, 2023.