SIXTY-NINTH WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY Provisional agenda item 23.2
A69/57 8 April 2016
Process for the election of the Director-General of the World Health Organization Report by the Director-General
1. The Executive Board at its 138th session in January 2016 adopted decision EB138(2), which recommended that the Sixty-ninth World Health Assembly consider adopting a resolution to require that nominated candidates for the post of Director-General address the Health Assembly before the vote for appointment of the Director-General, on the understanding that (a) statements shall be limited to a maximum of 15 minutes; (b) the order of statements shall be decided by lot; and (c) there shall be no questions and answers after the statement. 2. By way of background, the Executive Board, in making the above recommendation, considered the novelty of the procedure and the fact that the Health Assembly will very probably have to consider three candidates. The Board considered it advisable to require the nominated candidates to address the Health Assembly before the vote. As noted in the report of the Secretariat to the Board on this matter,1 although Member States will already have had an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the candidates and their electoral platforms through the web forum, the candidates’ forum and the interviews at the Executive Board, Member States may feel that hearing the candidates one last time at the end of the electoral process may assist their consideration of the Board’s nomination. The additional time that the candidates’ addresses will require will be offset by the time gained with the electronic voting.
ACTION BY THE HEALTH ASSEMBLY 3. The Health Assembly is invited to consider adopting the following draft resolution, as recommended by the Executive Board in decision EB138(2):
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Document EB138/46.
A69/57
The Sixty-ninth World Health Assembly, Having considered the report on the process for the election of the Director-General of the World Health Organization,1 DECIDES: (1) that candidates nominated by the Executive Board for the post of Director-General of the World Health Organization shall address the Health Assembly before the vote for appointment of the Director-General, on the understanding that: (a) (b) (c) statements shall be limited to a maximum of 15 minutes; the order of statements shall be decided by lot; there shall be no questions and answers after the statement.
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Document A69/57.
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