The Plenipotentiary Conference elects the Secretary-General, the Deputy Secretary-General, the Directors of the Bureaux of the Radiocommunication Sector (BR), the Telecommunication Standardization Sector (TSB), and the Telecommunication Development Sector (BDT), and the 12 members of the Radio Regulations Board (RRB) (see Nos 55 and 56 and Nos 62 and 63 of the Constitution).
The Plenipotentiary Conference also elects the 48 Member States that will constitute the next ITU Council (see No. 54 and No. 61 of the Constitution).
Procedures and time limits
The call for candidatures was issued in Circular Letter CL-25/48. Candidatures must be submitted by the Administration or the Permanent Mission to ppelections@itu.int. Candidatures for Elected Officials and RRB positions must contain a photo (JPEG) with a CV and a vision statement (in Word) of the candidate. Once all of these elements are received and the official Conference document is created, the candidature will be published on the Candidates page.
Member States are also welcome to submit a brochure or link to a campaigning video, which will be added to the Candidates page. Please note that the use of the ITU logo or Conference logo is not permitted in campaigning material, as per the Ethical guidelines (see below), and the information on use of logos.
In accordance with No. 170 of the General Rules of Conferences, Assemblies and Meetings of the Union, candidatures must reach the Secretary-General not later than 23:59 hours (Geneva time) the 28th day prior to the Conference, i.e. Monday, 12 October 2026.
For detailed information on elections and election procedures, please refer to Article 2 of the Convention and Chapter III of the General Rules of Conferences, Assemblies and Meetings of the Union.
Learn more about the election process here!
Ethical guidelines
Council 2018 adopted ethical guidelines regarding campaign activities for candidates, which were then re-endorsed by Council 2021 and Council 2025. These guidelines are available in the six ITU languages: English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, and Russian.
Candidate interviews
All candidates to the Elected Official posts will be invited to submit answers to questions about their candidacies after the deadline for candidatures. Full information is available here.
Right to vote
In order to be able to exercise their sovereign rights in full at the Plenipotentiary Conference, Member States must ensure that they have maintained the right to vote in accordance with Nos 169 and 210 of the Constitution and that the delegations representing them at the Plenipotentiary Conference 2026 are duly accredited in accordance with Nos 325 and 327 to 331 of the Convention. See the Credentials section for complete information.
Previous elections
PP-22 elections
PP-18 elections
PP-14 elections
PP-10 elections
PP-06 elections