Call for Nominations

In April 2024, the Nomination Committee of the 2025 Election requested proposals for nominations to fill positions on the Executive Board which became vacant at the time of the 47th General Assembly of Members, held in Wellington, New Zealand, on 11 January 2025.

At that time, Svanibor Pettan (Slovenia) completed his term as President; Tan Sooi Beng (Malaysia) completed her term as Vice President; and Brian Diettrich (New Zealand) and Marcia Ostashewski (Canada), completed theirs as Ordinary Members. Louise Wrazen (Canada), who passed away in July 2023, would have completed her term as Ordinary Member as well.

Consequently, the vacant positions to fill in the 2025 election were:

• The President
• 1 Vice President
• 3 Ordinary Members

Tan, Diettrich, and Ostashewski were eligible for nomination, as were Olcay Muslu (Türkiye), Mayco A. Santaella (Argentina/Malaysia), and Urmimala Sarkar Munsi (India), who completed their co-option to the Executive Board.

The Nomination Committee of the 2025 Election was formed by Elina Seye (Finland, Convener), Daniel Kodzo Avorgbedor (Ghana), and Sarah Weiss (Austria).

Candidates

The following candidates were selected by the Nomination Committee from proposals made by ICTMD National Committees and by individual ICTM members from at least two different countries for each proposal. All members of the Executive Board are elected for a term lasting until the second General Assembly of Members after their term has begun (typically four years), and are eligible for re‐election only once (see Statute 7.2 for details).

Candidates for Ordinary Members of the Executive Board (2025–2029)

• Sylvia Bruinders (South Africa)
• Kirsty Gillespie (Australia)
• Lea Hagmann (Switzerland)
• Olcay Muslu (Türkiye)
• Marcia Ostashewski (Canada)
• Mayco A. Santaella (Malaysia/Argentina)
• Urmimala Sarkar (India)
• Sally Treloyn (Australia)
• Yu Hui 喻辉 (China)

Read all the candidates' statements here

Candidates for Vice President (2025–2029)

• Brian Diettrich (New Zealand)
• Jean Kidula (USA/Kenya)

Read all the candidates' statements here

Candidates for President (2025–2029)

• Razia Sultanova (Uzbekistan/UK)
• Tan Sooi Beng (Malaysia)
• Xiao Mei 萧梅 (China)

Read all the candidates' statements here

Voting procedure

The voting was conducted via Election Runner, the third-party voting platform the Council has been using since 2019. 

On 1 November 2024, all ICTMD members in good standing received an email which allowed voting with a unique username and password. Voting was open until 30 November 2024 at 23:59:59 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). 

Results

A total of 795 votes were received, or 46% of the 1,730 eligible voters. It was the highest number of votes received in an election yet, since the standardisation of voting in 2005.

The results of the election were announced during the 47th General Assembly of Members, held in Wellington and online on 11 January 2025.

• Elected Executive Board Members (2025–2029): Mayco A Santaella (Malaysia/Argentina), Urmimala Sarkar Munsi (India), Sylvia Bruinders (South Africa)
• Elected Vice President (2025–2029): Brian Diettrich (New Zealand)
• Elected President (2025–2029): Tan Sooi Beng (Malaysia)