Appointment of the President of IFAD

In accordance with the Agreement Establishing IFAD [Arabic] [English] [French] [Spanish] the President of the Fund “shall be appointed for a term of four years and shall be eligible for reappointment for only one further term.” According to section 6.2 of the By-laws for the Conduct of the Business of IFAD, [Arabic] [English] [French] [Spanish] when the term of office of the President is due to expire, the appointment of a President shall be placed on the agenda of the annual session of the Governing Council immediately preceding the expiry of the term of office; whenever, for other reasons, the office of President becomes vacant or a vacancy is due to occur, the Executive Board shall request that the Governing Council be convened in special session for the purpose of appointing the President. The President is appointed by the Governing Council by a two-thirds majority of the total number of votes, for a term of four years, and shall be eligible for reappointment for only one additional term. The Governing Council considered the appointment of the President of IFAD at its first special session, on Thursday, 7 July 2022, and appointed Alvaro Lario as IFAD’s seventh President.

The Process

The Secretary of IFAD sends a call for nominations for the Presidency of IFAD together with questions that the candidates will be invited to answer in writing to the Governors of all IFAD Member States.

An announcement and press release are posted on the public IFAD website and the public IFAD Member States Interactive Platform page, and are shared with Governors, other United Nations agencies, organizations and International Financial Institutions.

In accordance with the By-laws for the Conduct of the Business of IFAD,  the Report of the Governing Council Bureau on the Review of the established good practice for the process leading to the appointment of the President of IFAD, GC 41/L.9 [Arabic] [English] [French] [Spanish], and the Report of the Governing Council Bureau on the review of the process leading to the appointment of the President of IFAD (GC47/L.3) [Arabic] [English] [French] [Spanish], nominations are submitted to the Secretary of IFAD by Member States along with a curriculum vitae (which should not exceed 2,000 words) and the responses to the questions provided with the call for nominations (which should not exceed 3,000 words).

Nominations must be submitted by Member States through their designated representatives or channels of communication to the Secretary of IFAD using a dedicated e-mail address which will be communicated to Governors in advance.

A communication on the nominations, including the names, nationality(ies), and nominating Member States for each nomination,  is communicated to Member States and the Bureau of the Governing Council immediately after the deadline for the receipt of nominations, in the four languages of IFAD. Full documentation, including letters of nomination, curricula vitae and answers to the pre-advised questions should be posted in the four official languages as soon as possible thereafter and no more than 40 days prior to the Governing Council session, in accordance with section 6.2 of the By-laws for the Conduct of the Business of IFAD.

IFAD Member States meet with Presidential candidates (restricted participation). In the interests of transparency, however, the proceedings of the meeting(s) are webcast on IFAD’s website.

Voting and appointment of the President takes place in a private meeting of the Governing Council. The proceedings should be webcast to a salle d’écoute for additional delegates from Member States and authorized staff.

All Member States are entitled to vote, each one casting the number of votes they have been allocated in membership votes and/or contribution votes. Updated information on Member States voting rights is posted regularly on the public IFAD website here and within Hot Links on the public IFAD Member States Interactive Platform.

In accordance with Rule 41.2 of the Rules of Procedure of the Governing Council, Governors or, in their absence, Alternate Governors or, in the absence of both, a designated delegation member shall cast the votes of the Member they represent in favour of a single person.

With the support of designated IFAD staff members, under the supervision of the Secretary of IFAD, the counting of votes should be overseen by tellers representing the three Lists of IFAD Member States, as appointed by the Chairperson of the Governing Council, with one representative for each candidate in the running, and, where possible and appropriate, the counting process should be visible to Member State representatives. When the counting of the votes is complete, the totals received by each nominee are entered on a tally sheet signed by each teller and presented to the Chairperson of the Governing Council, who announces the results. Should no candidate receive the required number of votes on the first ballot, a second ballot shall be conducted in which the nominee who receives the fewest votes shall not participate. This procedure shall continue until a candidate receives the required number of votes or is appointed by acclamation.

The term of office of the President-elect usually commences on 1 April of the year in which she/he is elected.

In accordance with Article 6, section 8(a) and (b) of the Agreement Establishing IFAD, which foresees the possibility of extending the term of office of the President by a maximum of six months, the term of office of the President elected at the special session of the Governing Council shall be from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2027.