Functions of the Executive Council: "Exercise the responsibilities delegated to it by the Assembly, acting on its behalf in the implementation of the decisions. It may set up committees or other subsidiary bodies ... in accordance with conditions specified in the Rules of Procedure." The Executive Council holds two ordinary sessions during the two-year interval between ordinary sessions of the Assembly. One such session is held usually at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris (France) the year in June the Assembly does not meet. The second session is held immediately prior an ordinary session of the Assembly. The Council meets usually during one day on this occasion and acts as the Steering Committee for the Assembly.

Elections for Chairperson and five Vice-chairpersons of IOC as well as for members of the IOC Executive are held every two years during the IOC Assembly session.

There are 40 seats on the IOC Executive Council (1 Chairperson, 5 Vice-chairpersons and 34 Member States). The Chairperson and Vice-chairpersons are elected in their own capacity and must sign the appropriate nomination form. An elected Chairperson or a Vice-chairperson cannot be replaced during the term he/she is elected for. The Chairperson and Vice-chairpersons can serve for a maximum of two consecutive terms. There is no term limitation for IOC Member States concerning re-election to the Executive Council.

The technical arrangements for the Elections of Officers of the IOC and other members of the Executive Council are provided in the IOC Rules of Procedure, Appendix I: Click here. Only IOC Member States can vote.

Nomination forms are provided in Annex I, II and III of the IOC Rules of Procedure. The Nomination forms can also be downloaded: IOC_Basic_Texts (or click the proper button below). The form should be sent to the IOC Executive Secretary.

click to see:

1- the current composition of the Executive Council

2- the current listing of the IOC electoral groups

3- the current list of IOC Member States

2017 Elections

Results of the Election for IOC Executive Council:

Chair (elected by acclamation):

Professor Peter Haugan (Norway)

Vice chairs (elected by acclamation):

Ms Monika Breuch-Moritz (Germany) Group I

Dr Alexander Postnov (Russian Federation) Group II

Mr Ariel Hernan Troisi (Argentina)  Group III

Dr Somkiat Khokiattiwong (Thailand)  Group IV

Dr Ashley Johnson (South Africa) Group V

Elected for Ordinary Seats on IOC EC:

Electoral Group I

BELGIUM, CANADA, FRANCE, GREECE, ITALY, PORTUGAL, SPAIN, TURKEY

Electoral Group II

BULGARIA (acclamation)

Electoral Group III

BRAZIL, CHILE, COLOMBIA, ECUADOR, GRENADA, MEXICO, PERU, URUGUAY

Electoral Group IV

AUSTRALIA, CHINA, INDONESIA, JAPAN, MALAYSIA, PALAU, PHILIPPINES, REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Electoral Group V

COTE d’IVOIRE, EGYPT, KENYA, KUWAIT, MOROCCO, OMAN, SENEGAL, TANZANIA

Answers to most frequent asked questions:

1- There are 40 seats in the Executive Council (1 Chairperson, 5 vice-chairpersons, and 34 other member countries) (Rule 18.2).

2- Member States of which the elected Chairperson and the five Vice-chairpersons are nationals occupy the first six seats on the Executive Council out of 40 (Technical arrangements for the elections 2.12).

3- The mandate of the Member States of the Executive Council commences at the end of the session of the Assembly during which they have been elected and expire at the end of the next session (Article 7A2 of IOC Statutes). The Executive Council term is therefore of two years (following the sequence of Assembly sessions). Elections are held at each session of the IOC Assembly (every two years - same year as that of the General Conference of UNESCO but several months in advance of the GC).

4- The Executive Council is renewed as a whole every two years. The Chairperson and the five Vice-chairpersons are eligible for re-election in their personnal capacity but only once for successive terms. There is no limitation for IOC Member States to re-election at the Executive Council (Rule 18.1).

5- The countries of all failed candidates in the elections for Chairperson and vice-chairpersons will be automatically included in the list of States candidates for elections to the Executive Council, unless the Head of any delegations indicates that he/she does not wish his/her country to be considered for the election. (Technical arrangements for the elections 1.8)

6- The representation in the Executive Council per electoral grouping has been changed at the 25th Assembly through Resolution XXV-15 as follows (Rule 18.2 amended in 2009):
Group I - 10 seats
Group II - 3 seats
Group III - 9 seats
Group IV - 9 seats
Group V - 9 seats

7- The rational behind the current distribution of seats by electoral groupings is given in Appendix III of document IOC-XXI/2 Annex 4.

8- Each Member State "present and voting" is invited to vote by chosing country candidates in all electoral groups for which election is needed, the Member State chooses no more countries than the maximum number of seats remaining to be filled by electoral group.

9- In IOC there is one single Electoral Group V, unlike UNESCO where Electoral Group V is split in Group V(a) -- African States and Group V(b) -- Arab States.

10- It is not possible to vote by proxy.

11- The Chairperson and Vice-chairpersons are elected in their own capacity and must sign the nomination form. An elected Chairperson or Vice-chairperson cannot be replaced during the term he/she is elected for.

Current Officers of the Commission (elected 28 June 2017):

© IOC of UNESCO, 2009