Immediately after the election of the president and under his chairmanship, the regional council shall determine the number of vice-presidents and other members of the standing committee.
Members of the standing committee other than the president shall be elected by list ballot. Each regional councillor or group of councillors may submit a list of candidates. Each list is composed alternately of one candidate of each sex. A group of councillors which does not have a sufficient number of members of each sex may complete its list with candidates of the same sex.
Lists are lodged with the president within one hour of the Regional Council’s decision on the composition of the standing committee. If, on expiry of this period, only one list has been lodged, the various posts on the standing committee shall then be filled immediately in the order of the list, and the list shall be read out by the president.
Otherwise, the regional council shall first proceed to the election of the standing committee, which shall take place by proportional representation with the highest average, without panachage or preferential vote, between the lists mentioned in the second paragraph. Seats are allocated to candidates in the order of presentation on each list. If several lists have the same average for the allocation of the last seat, the seat is allocated to the list that has obtained the highest number of votes. In the event of a tie, the seat is awarded to the oldest candidate eligible to be declared elected. If the number of candidates on a list is less than the number of seats to which it is entitled, the seat or seats not filled are awarded to the next highest average.
After the seats on the permanent commission have been distributed, the regional council elects the vice-presidents by an absolute majority on a list basis, without any combination of votes or preferential votes. On each of the lists, the difference between the number of candidates of each sex may not be greater than one. If, after two ballots, no list has obtained an absolute majority, a third ballot shall be held and the election shall be by relative majority. In the event of a tie, the candidates on the list with the highest average age are elected.
Members of the standing committee other than the chairman are appointed for the same term as the chairman.