Note on the calculation of members' voting rights
Under the new system, the total votes are divided into two groups:
- Original Votes and
- New Replenishment Votes
Each of these is subdivided into two further groups:
- Membership votes and
- Contribution votes
A. Recalculation of the original votes:
1. It was agreed that, of the original 1800 votes, 790 are membership votes divided equally among all members. This gives the present 165 members 4.788 membership votes each.
2. After subtracting the membership votes from the original 1800 votes, the remaining 1010 contribution votes are distributed among Members in accordance with their paid share of cumulative convertible currency contributions, up to and including the Third Replenishment, excluding any promissory note contributions against which accounting provisions have been made.
3. The 790 membership votes are redistributed each time a new member joins IFAD.
B. Creation and distribution of new votes linked to new replenishments:
1. The total number of new votes to be created in conjunction with the effectiveness of each Replenishment from the Fourth onward is given by the ratio of 100 votes to the equivalent of USD 158 million of replenishment contributions in convertible currencies.
Taking the example of the Eighth Replenishment, the replenishment level of USD 973,525,6731, causes 616.155 votes to be created
2. Calculation to apportion total replenishment votes between membership and contribution votes.
The portion of total new replenishment votes defined as membership votes is calculated so that, Members of List C receive, as their membership votes, one third of the total new replenishment votes.
(i) One third of 616.155 votes = 205.385 votes (i.e. total List C membership votes).
(ii) At the time2, List C had 131 members, therefore membership votes per member were obtained as follows: 205.385 ÷ 131 = 1.568 membership votes per member.
(iii) Multiplied by the number of Members, at the time 1652, this gives: total membership votes = 1.568 x 165 = 258.691. The number of membership votes thus established is fixed and distributed equally among all members. This total is redistributed in the event that there is a change in the number of IFAD Members.
(iv) The remaining replenishment votes are contribution-linked votes: total votes 616.155 - membership votes 258.691= contribution votes 357.464
These contribution votes are distributed among Members in accordance with their respective share in paid contributions to the Replenishment in question. The entire distribution of contribution votes will therefore be recalculated each time there is a change in the status of payments of contributions towards the Replenishment.
3. Membership votes are effective immediately upon the effectiveness of the respective Replenishment. Contribution votes become effective upon receipt of cash or promissory note payment of individual members' contributions and are redistributed among all members according to the pattern of such received contributions.
With the 1800 original votes and the creation of new votes in conjunction with each Replenishment from the Fourth onwards, the total number of votes now stands at 3621.852.
1/ Though the total amount of pledges received for the Eighth Replenishment was higher, this figure represents the total of pledges relating to vote-bearing contributions.
2/ At the time of approval of the Eighth Replenishment.
Any discrepancy is totals is due to rounding.
