OSI pauses 2026 board election cycle

The Open Source Initiative (OSI) has announcedthat it will not be holding the 2026 spring board election. Instead,it will be creating a working group to "review and improve OSI'sboard member selection process" and provide recommendations bySeptember2026:

The public election process was designed to gather communitypriorities and improve board member selection, while finalappointments remained with the board.

Over time, that nuance has become a source of understandableconfusion for community members. Many reasonably expected elections tofunction as elections normally do, and in fact, the board hasgenerally adopted the electorate's recommendations. When a processfeels unclear, trust suffers. When trust suffers, engagement becomesharder. This is especially problematic for an organization whosemission depends on legitimacy and credibility. [...]

OSI tried its experiment for the right reasons, but a variety offactors resulted in "elections" that are performatively democraticwhile being gameable and representative of only a small group, andwe've learned from the results. Now we are making space to align ourdirector selection process with our bylaws, to rebuild trust, and todevelop better, more durable and truly representative participation inwhich the global stakeholder community can be heard.

LWN covered theprevious OSI election in March 2025.