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The EC is the national governing body of the Musicians' Union, making major decisions that affect the working lives of musicians. Find out more about the EC.  

Members interested in becoming an EC member need to take part in a nomination process. This means that you (a candidate) make an application to be a member of the EC, and it must be supported by another member (your nominator). This is detailed on the EC nominations page along with other key information about the process including deadlines, and a link to the online nomination forms. 

Updates for 2027-28 term of office (EC Elections 2026)  

In addition to Regional EC seats (seats based on the MU region that a member is from, with the number of seats based on the membership of that region), two (2) seats are added where there is an underrepresented community on the current EC.  

The additional two (2) seats are open to members of that community across the entire geographic spread of membership.  

For the 2027-2028 term of office: 

There are vacant Regional EC seats in the following regions:  

East and South East England two (2), London four (4), Midlands one (1), North of England two (2), Scotland and Northern Ireland one (1), Wales and South West England two (2).  

And vacant Reserved EC seats for the following underrepresented communities:  

  • Two (2) additional seats for Young Members and  
  • Two (2) additional seats for Global Majority Members.   

You can check eligibility across the different categories of seat on the EC Eligibility page. 

It’s important to understand how the new updates and available seats will work, and that information is provided below.  

 If they are eligible, a member can submit a nomination for:  

  • A Regional EC seat  

And, if applicable 

  • One (1) Reserved EC seat (Young Members, Global Majority Members - if they are eligible for both, they must choose one only (1)).  

For example, if a member is under the age of thirty (30), and is a Global Majority member in the London region, they can submit two (2) separate nominations:  

  • One (1) for the Regional EC seat (London)  

and  

  • one (1) for either a reserved Global Majority seat or a reserved Young Members seat.   

You will need to submit a separate nomination form for each category you wish to apply for and should only submit a nomination where you are eligible. 

 

FAQs

No, you can still submit a nomination as a young member. The Reserved EC seats (Young Members and Global Majority Members) are based on those groups across the whole of MU membership so is unaffected by whether there is a vacancy for a Regional EC seat in your region or not, it is separate.  

No, the same Regional EC seats exist as they did previously, the Reserved EC seats have been added ‘on top’ to recognise an underrepresentation   in those groups, without removing or limiting the opportunity of others. 

The diversity of the EC is reviewed each year and if one of the five groups (Young Member, Global Majority, LGBT+, Women or Neurodiverse and Disabled) is underrepresented then yes, Reserved EC seats will be added if the make up of the EC is below that of the most recent UK census data. This year that hasn’t been necessary beyond Young Members and Global Majority members, based on the current EC diversity data.  In subsequent years, if those groups are no longer under-represented there will be no need to add reserved EC seats.  

Yes, if you want. All seats are ultimately on the same EC, and those members don’t specifically represent their communities or regions, much as they provide those perspectives and experiences. But if you want to just choose just one seat that you are eligible for e.g. you are a young member and only want to submit a nomination for a Young Member Reserved EC seat, that is OK. 

The EC has setup a process that is really clear in the event that a member is successful in both a Regional EC seat and a Reserved EC seat. This isn’t possible if members are successful in multiple reserved seats, but it is also important for members to consider which community they feel is most important to them so that the EC has the best and most diverse representation of members across membership. 

You can find information around eligibility across all the categories of EC seats on this page. If you’re still not sure please email ECelections@themnu.org. 

Well firstly congratulations! But basically, the Regional EC seat will take priority and be yours, and your Reserved EC seat ballot will be removed, passing to the member that polled the next highest number of votes in that category. 

If you are a Global Majority member, yes, you can, but you need to check your membership record since you might not have updated that (membership of a network is recorded separately).

We need to check eligibility which is different across different seats and your nominator may need to be different each time. So, for example, a member from the Global Majority  needs to be nominated by another member from the Global Majority . A nomination for a regional EC seat needs to be from a member in the same region, who might be a different person. 

You can, but that process is happening separately and at a slightly later date with an online ballot this year. The RC will still start from January next year as usual. 

We don’t plan to do this currently since any lack of diversity on some committees isn’t based on lack of access, but we are keeping this under review. 

MU Democracy