The ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2026 (PP-26) runs in Doha, Qatar, from Monday 9 to Friday 27 November 2026 at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre. Elections begin on Thursday 12 November with the Secretary-General vote; Doreen Bogdan-Martin of the United States is the only candidate. Two Europeans, Eric Fournier of France and Alexander Kühn of Germany, are competing to run the Radiocommunication Bureau, which registers countries' frequency assignments, including for satellites.

The conference, ITU's top decision-making body, meets every four years to set the Union's telecom policies and plans. Besides five elected officials, it chooses the 48 Council members and the 12-member Radio Regulations Board (RRB), all for 2027–2030.

PP-26 schedule: dates and times

Times are Doha time (UTC+3), with CET (UTC+1) in brackets; ITU says a webcast will be available. Election slots follow ITU's draft time management plan of 29 September 2026, which the Steering Committee can revise.

  • Monday 9 November: opening ceremony 11:00–12:00 (09:00–10:00 CET); first plenary 14:30–17:30 (12:30–15:30 CET), when ministers' policy statements start.
  • Thursday 12 November: Secretary-General vote in the 09:30–12:30 plenary (07:30–10:30 CET); Deputy Secretary-General in the 14:30–17:30 plenary (12:30–15:30 CET).
  • Friday 13 November: the three bureau directors, 09:00–12:00 (07:00–10:00 CET).
  • Monday 16 November: RRB and Council, 09:30–12:30 (07:30–10:30 CET).
  • Friday 27 November: signing of the Final Acts and closing ceremony, 14:30–17:30 (12:30–15:30 CET).

Voting is by secret ballot, one vote per Member State. Under ITU's election rules, officials need a majority; otherwise up to two more ballots follow, each at least six hours after the last result, and then a run-off between the top two, at least twelve hours later. The conference can change these intervals. Contested races can overrun their slot.

Who is running for ITU's five top posts

Candidatures closed on 12 October 2026. The official list shows:

  • Secretary-General: Doreen Bogdan-Martin (United States), the incumbent, unopposed. She won in 2022 with 139 votes.
  • Deputy Secretary-General: Carlos Baigorri (Brazil), president of the regulator Anatel; Stephen Bereaux (Bahamas), ITU's chief of administration and finance; and Adel Darwish (Bahrain), director of ITU's Arab States regional office. Incumbent Tomas Lamanauskas (Lithuania) is not a candidate.
  • Radiocommunication Bureau (BR) director: Eric Fournier (France), Alexander Kühn (Germany) and Revathi Mannepalli (India), a current RRB member. Incumbent Mario Maniewicz (Uruguay) is in his second term, the maximum allowed.
  • Telecommunication Standardization Bureau director: Seizo Onoe (Japan), the incumbent, unopposed.
  • Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) director: Nele Leosk (Estonia) against the incumbent, Cosmas Zavazava (Zimbabwe).

Europe's candidates

Fournier has led spectrum planning and international affairs at France's frequency agency ANFR since 2007 and chaired CEPT's Electronic Communications Committee from 2012 to 2018. Kühn heads the spectrum management division at Germany's Bundesnetzagentur and chairs the ITU-R preparatory meeting for WRC-27, the next World Radiocommunication Conference, which ITU's WRC-27 page schedules for 18 October to 12 November 2027 in Shanghai.

Leosk was Estonia's ambassador for digital affairs from 2020 to 2024 and now leads the European Commission's Knowledge Hub Digital team, according to her candidacy file.

Council and RRB seats in Europe's regions

Council seats are normally filled in a single round, with the top vote-getters in each region elected.

  • Region B, Western Europe (8 seats): nine candidates: France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom. Greece finished ninth in 2022.
  • Region C, Eastern Europe and Northern Asia (5 seats): eight candidates. CEPT lists five of them (Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania) as European candidates; the others are Kazakhstan, Russia and Uzbekistan. Russia lost its seat in 2022 with 73 votes, according to ITU's PP-22 results.

For the RRB, Western Europe has two candidates for two seats: Mauro Di Crescenzo (Italy) and Jorūnė Mikulėnaitė-Baušienė (Lithuania). In Region C, which covers Eastern Europe and Northern Asia, five candidates compete for two seats, including Russia's Nikolay Varlamov and Azerbaijan's Sitara Mehdiyeva, whom CEPT lists among European candidates.

How Europe coordinates and what is at stake

CEPT's Committee for ITU Policy prepares Europe's positions. Europe's joint submission, Document 75, had 49 addenda on 30 October, with more still being posted. They include the deletion of Resolution 146 on periodic review of the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) and a new draft resolution on satellite systems and the Space2030 agenda.

The EU's lines to take, approved by the Council on 8 June 2026, name CEPT as the primary regional coordination framework and set out EU policy goals. They:

  • do not support convening a World Conference on International Telecommunications or substantively revising the ITRs;
  • flag harmful interference with satellite navigation and the long-term sustainability of space as large non-geostationary constellations grow;
  • commit to defending the outcomes of WSIS+20 and the Global Digital Compact.

WSIS+20, the UN's 20-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society, ended on 17 December 2025, when the General Assembly adopted an outcome document without a vote that made the Internet Governance Forum permanent. Europe also proposes changes to ITU's own WSIS text, Resolution 140.

Frequently asked questions

When is the ITU Secretary-General election in 2026?

On Thursday 12 November 2026, in the 09:30–12:30 Doha plenary (07:30–10:30 CET), under ITU's draft plan. Doreen Bogdan-Martin is the only candidate.

Who is running for director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau?

Eric Fournier (France), Alexander Kühn (Germany) and Revathi Mannepalli (India). All three director votes are scheduled for Friday 13 November 2026.

When do the new ITU officials start?

On 1 January 2027, unless the conference decides otherwise, for a four-year term.