MUN rules of procedure: points, motions, caucuses and voting explained

A session moves through a fixed order of steps, and the chair decides who speaks at each one.

Your committee is the First Committee of the General Assembly, which deals with disarmament. Topic A is weapons that pick their own targets, and Topic B is the illegal trade in small arms.

At the front sits the chair, with the rest of the dais.

You raise your placard to speak or to vote.

A session runs through these steps:

1. 1Roll call. The chair checks who is here.
2. 2Setting the agenda. You pick the first topic.
3. 3Speakers' list. Delegates give speeches in turn.
4. 4Caucuses. Short debates, and time to negotiate.
5. 5Draft resolutions. Countries write down their proposals.
6. 6Amendments. Delegates propose changes.
7. 7Closing debate. The committee votes to end the discussion.
8. 8Voting. You vote on the changes, then on each draft.
9. 9Next topic or adjournment. The committee moves on, or stops.

New to MUN? Read the beginner's guide to your first MUN.

Say “present” unless you are sure you will vote yes or no on every draft.

The session opens with roll call. The chair reads out every country's name. When you hear “Ghana”, you answer “Present.”

There are two possible answers:

• “Present” means you are in the room. When the committee votes on drafts and amendments, you may also abstain.
• “Present and voting” means you will vote yes or no on every draft and amendment. You give up the right to abstain for the rest of the session.

Roll call also checks the quorum, which your conference sets.

If your committee has two topics and the order is not fixed, it starts by voting on which one to debate first.

Your committee has two topics, so it first sets the agenda. Brazil's delegate makes a motion.

“The delegate of Brazil moves that Topic A be placed first on the agenda.”

A few delegates speak for and against it. Then you vote by raising your placard, and Topic A comes first.

A simple majority usually decides.

Many conferences fix the order in advance.

Under the rules of the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA), three delegates speak on each side. These rules are one source of North American procedure.

You speak only when the chair calls on you, and if you get a rule wrong, the chair tells you and moves on.

Topic A is set. To take part, you wait until the chair gives you the floor.

You raise your placard at three moments:

• When the chair opens the speakers' list. You ask to give a speech.
• When the chair asks for points or motions. This comes after a few speeches. A point is a request to the chair.
• During a moderated caucus. The chair picks speakers from raised placards.

When the chair calls on you, open with “Honourable chair”. Then speak for your country: “The delegate of Ghana believes...”.

To reach another delegate during a speech, pass a note, or “chit”, instead of talking. Keep it to committee business, because staff may read it. At Harvard Model United Nations (HMUN), for example, they can check any note at any time.

Now suppose you get a rule wrong. After a few speeches, you move to close debate and vote, but no one has written a draft yet.

The chair explains the rule, and the debate goes on. At some conferences, the chair rules on a motion in one of three ways:

• “In order.” The motion is valid, and the committee can vote on it.
• “Out of order.” The motion is not allowed, at least not now.
• “Dilatory.” The motion is allowed, but it would not help the debate, so the chair does not put it to a vote.

Not sure what comes next? Ask with a point of parliamentary inquiry.

Raise your placard when the chair asks, give your speech, then say “I yield my time to the chair” to hand back what is left.

The speeches on Topic A follow the speakers' list. When the chair opens it, you raise your placard, and the chair adds Ghana.

Your opening speech gets one minute. You finish with a few seconds left and say “I yield my time to the chair.”

The chair sets the speaking time, and any delegate can move to change it. If you are out of the room when the chair calls Ghana, you can lose your turn.

Caucuses interrupt the list, and debate returns to it afterwards.

Many conferences call it the General Speakers' List (GSL). Under UNA-USA rules, debate closes when the list runs out, and the committee votes.

Yields: what “I yield to the chair” means

When you finish early, you yield the rest. Under UNA-USA rules, you have three choices:

• Yield to the chair. You give the time back, and no one can ask about your speech.
• Yield to questions. The chair picks delegates to ask you one question each, and your answers use up your time.
• Yield to another delegate. They use the rest of your time.

Yields work only on the speakers' list, not in a moderated caucus.

If a speaker insults your country

If a speaker seriously insults Ghana, ask for a right of reply. Criticism of your country's policy is usually not enough.

Under UNA-USA rules, you send the chair a written request. The chair can grant it only after the speech ends, and no one can appeal the decision.

A point is a request that the chair handles without a vote. A motion asks the committee to do something, and the committee usually votes on it.

You cannot hear Japan's speech, so you raise a point. Later you want a short debate on human control of Topic A's weapons, so you make a motion.

The four points

Raise your placard and name the point.

During a speech, HMUN allows only a point of personal privilege about hearing the speaker. So do conferences that follow The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN). UN4MUN, which follows real UN practice, also allows a point of order.

Ask the dais about the topic in person, at a quiet moment, not with a point of parliamentary inquiry.

How to make a motion

1. 1Wait for the chair to ask for motions. This happens when no one is speaking.
2. 2Raise your placard. Wait until the chair calls on Ghana.
3. 3Say your motion. “The delegate of Ghana moves for...”, then the details.
4. 4Wait for support. Some motions need another delegate to support them. This support is called a “second”.
5. 5Vote. The committee votes by placard, in a procedural vote.

Japan moves for an unmoderated caucus, and you move for a moderated one. The committee votes on Japan's motion first, because it interrupts debate more. It fails, and yours passes.

When several motions compete, the committee votes on them in order of precedence. At HMUN, for example, the motion that interrupts debate most goes first. Once one passes, the chair usually drops the rest.

If every motion fails, debate goes back to the speakers' list.

A short, chaired debate on one part of the topic: the chair picks speakers from raised placards, and there are no yields.

The committee passed your motion: “The delegate of Ghana moves for a 10-minute moderated caucus on keeping a human in control of these weapons, with 30 seconds per speaker.” Pick times that divide evenly, as here. A simple majority usually passes the motion.

When the chair calls on you, you answer an argument Japan's delegate has made. With two minutes left, no one raises a placard, so the caucus ends early.

There is no speakers' list, and you do not ask questions. You make your own short speech, and it should answer what others have said.

Formal debate pauses so you can leave your seat and start writing with countries that agree with you.

Later, Brazil's delegate makes another motion, and it passes:

“The delegate of Brazil moves for a 15-minute unmoderated caucus.”

You find the delegates of Brazil and Chile and agree on two main ideas. Then you tell the dais how your talks are going.

Work in this order:

1. 1Find your bloc. Look for countries with positions like yours, and form a bloc with them.
2. 2Start a working paper. Write down the ideas your bloc agrees on in a working paper.
3. 3Talk to other blocs. Look for ideas to merge.

Some conferences, such as HMUN, ban laptops in the room during formal debate. They allow them in an unmoderated caucus if the dais agrees. The session is still running during an unmoderated caucus, so your conference's rules on phones and the internet apply.

Your bloc's ideas start as a working paper and become a draft resolution once they follow the format and the dais approves them.

Your bloc rewrites its working paper as Draft resolution 1.1. Ghana, Brazil and Chile wrote it, so they are its sponsors. Japan's delegate also signs it, as a signatory.

A working paper can take any form. When you rewrite it in resolution format, you have a draft resolution. You usually need a minimum number of sponsors and signatories, and the dais has the final say.

Once the dais approves it, you introduce it: “The delegate of Ghana moves to introduce Draft resolution 1.1.”

The documents lesson of the Model UN Masterclass covers working papers and drafts.

If all the sponsors agree, a change goes in without a vote; if any sponsor objects, the committee votes on it.

Japan's delegate proposes new wording for operative clause 3. All three sponsors agree, so it goes in as a friendly amendment. Norway's delegate proposes deleting clause 5. As a sponsor, you object, so it becomes an unfriendly amendment, and the committee will vote on it.

You can propose an amendment once the draft is introduced. UNA-USA and HMUN rules have both kinds, and an unfriendly amendment usually needs signatures and the dais's approval first.

When there are several amendments, the committee usually votes first on the one that changes the draft most.

An unfriendly amendment needs a simple majority under UNA-USA rules, and two-thirds at HMUN.

A motion to close debate ends the discussion and starts the vote; it usually needs two-thirds.

Once the drafts are ready, Chile's delegate moves to close debate.

“The delegate of Chile moves for the closure of debate.”

This time the motion is in order. Two delegates speak against it, but it gets two-thirds, and voting begins.

Closure sends every draft into voting procedure, the formal voting stage. It usually needs a two-thirds majority.

To take a break, such as lunch, move to suspend the meeting; to end it, move to adjourn the meeting. The committee votes on both straight away, without debate.

THIMUN conferences call closure “moving the previous question”.

Stay in your seat and stay silent; procedural votes are yes or no, and on drafts you may also abstain.

The chair announces the vote, and a staff member closes the doors. The committee votes on Norway's amendment first, and it fails. Then it votes on your Draft resolution 1.1: 31 yes, 9 no and 6 abstentions. Your draft passes.

While a vote runs

Once voting begins, no one enters or leaves the room. You do not talk or pass notes. Only a few points are allowed, such as a point of order about how the vote is run.

How votes count

Votes on motions are procedural votes. Everyone present votes yes or no, and no one may abstain.

Votes on drafts and amendments are substantive votes. You may vote yes, no or abstain, unless you answered “present and voting” at roll call.

On a substantive vote, you can ask for a roll-call vote. The chair calls each country in turn, and you answer yes, no, abstain or pass. If you pass, the chair comes back to you in a second round, and you vote yes or no.

On a motion for division of the question, the committee votes on whether to divide, then on each part, then on the whole draft.

Most votes need a simple majority. At HMUN, that means more yes votes than no votes, so abstentions count for neither side.

UNA-USA counts differently. You need yes votes from half the delegations present, plus one, so an abstention works like a no.

The Security Council veto

Your committee has no veto. The Security Council votes under Article 27 of the UN Charter, and the UN Security Council committee guide shows how the veto works in Model UN.

The same steps have different names in the North American, THIMUN and UN4MUN traditions.

At your next conference, the rules may follow THIMUN, with no caucuses. The same work happens in lobbying and in open debate on a resolution.

Ghana's session followed North American procedure, from UNA-USA and conferences such as HMUN. A third tradition, UN4MUN, follows real UN practice, and the Global Model UN conferences run on it. Some conferences mix traditions.

Some conferences also call the dais the Executive Board (EB).

Keep the MUN glossary open for any term you meet.