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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 (1) only.  

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

 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 (1) 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, not a Regional Seat as well, that is OK. 

It is 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. The EC has setup a process that is clear in the event that a member is successful in both a Regional EC seat and a Reserved EC seat (please see below). 

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

You can find information across all the categories of EC seats on the eligibility page, and details of how to check and edit your membership data on the Your Data Your Voice page. If you’re still not sure please email EC-elections@themu.org. 

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

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

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 (1) of the five (5) groups (Disabled Members, Members from the Global Majority, LGBT+ Members, Women Members and Young Members) is underrepresented then yes, Reserved EC seats will be added if the makeup of the EC is below that of the most recent UK census data. This year that hasn’t been necessary beyond Young Members and members from the Global Majority, 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. 

 

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

Not really, no. All EC members have equal standing and are elected for a term of two years. They are elected from a region or community but don’t have specific responsibility to that region or community, though they will often have an informed voice if issues relate to that region or community. 

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