Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-11-16/Election report

The annual Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) elections are now underway. Arbitration is the final stage of Wikipedia's dispute resolution process, and the members of ArbCom are typically experienced and respected project volunteers. The 2009 election will select as many as eight new arbitrators, who will begin their terms on 1 January 2010.

Meet the candidates
Candidate nomination page.

The election process has officially started and candidates can now nominate themselves. Nominations close on 24 November. Nomination is open to any editor in good standing who has at least 1000 mainspace edits as of 10 November 2009, and who is over the age of 18 and of legal age at the editor's place of residence. Candidates are not required to be administrators or to have any other special permissions.

At press time 12 candidates had nominated themselves for this year's election. A comprehensive overview of each of the candidates can be examined at the General Summary page.


 * Chutznik (Candidate statement)
 * Coren (Candidate statement)
 * Fred Bauder (Candidate statement)
 * Fritzpoll (Candidate statement)
 * Jehochman (Candidate statement)
 * Kirill Lokshin (Candidate statement)
 * Kmweber (Candidate statement)
 * KnightLago (Candidate statement)
 * Ruslik0 (Candidate statement)
 * Seddon (Candidate statement)
 * SirFozzie (Candidate statement)
 * Wehwalt (Candidate statement)

Update - 7 new candidates
In the 24 hours since the original article was published a flurry of new candidates has emerged, taking the total to 19. As at 00:01 18 November 2009 (UTC) the new candidates are:


 * AGK (Candidate statement)
 * Cla68 (Candidate statement)
 * Mailer diablo (Candidate statement)
 * RMHED (Candidate statement)
 * Unomi (Candidate statement)
 * William M. Connolley (Candidate statement)
 * Xavexgoem (Candidate statement)

Timeline and links
Here are the important dates for the 2009 ArbCom elections:
 * 10 November – Candidate nominations open and the question period commences
 * 24 November – Nominations close
 * 1 December – Voting begins
 * 14 December – Voting ends
 * by 21 December – results announced by Jimbo Wales (expected date)


 * Click here for the 2009 ArbCom Elections page

Requests for comment (RFC)
A set of requests for comment are still underway, examining aspects of the overall ArbCom election process. All Wikipedia editors are warmly invited to participate in these discussions.