MUN rules of procedure (ROP): points, motions and voting explained

ROP is the rulebook for a committee, which works through the same nine steps from roll call to the vote.

It is 9 a.m. in the General Assembly's Second Committee, which handles economic questions, climate finance among them. Topic A is paying for adaptation and loss and damage, and Topic B is the debt of developing countries. You sit behind Ghana's placard, and the chair runs the session from the front, with the rest of the dais.

A committee works through the same flow of debate, in nine steps:

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

Most North American committees loop through the speakers' list and the two caucuses until the drafts are ready. At any step, a point of parliamentary inquiry asks the chair about a rule, and it is the one point nobody minds.

The points and motions you will hear most, what each does, what to say and how the committee decides, on one page.

Keep this page open on your phone or laptop in committee. Where your conference's rules differ, follow them.

Say “present” if you are unsure: it keeps your right to abstain, which “present and voting” gives up.

When the chair reads out “Ghana” at roll call, “present” means you are in the room and may still abstain on drafts and amendments. “Present and voting” means you vote yes or no on every one of them for the rest of the session.

Roll call also checks the quorum, the minimum number of delegates needed to vote, which your conference sets.

Setting the agenda: the first vote

With two topics, the committee first votes on which one to debate. A delegate makes a motion, a formal proposal the committee votes on, usually in these words:

A few delegates speak for and against, then a simple majority decides. Many conferences fix the order in advance and skip this step.

Raise your placard when the chair opens the list, give your speech and yield the time you have left.

Topic A is set, so the chair opens the speakers' list, which many conferences call the General Speakers' List (GSL). You raise your placard, and the chair adds Ghana. Your opening speech gets about one minute, so write it and time it at home.

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.

When can you speak in MUN?

You speak only when the chair gives you the floor, your turn to speak. You raise your placard at three moments:

• When the chair opens the speakers' list, to give a speech.
• When the chair asks for points or motions, after a few speeches.
• During a moderated caucus, when the chair picks speakers from raised placards.

When the chair calls on you, open with “Honourable chair” and speak for your country. To reach another delegate during a speech, pass a short note, or chit, and keep it to committee business, because staff may read it.

What does “I yield my time to the chair” mean?

When you finish early, you yield the time you have left. At North American-style conferences you have three choices, and they work only on the speakers' list:

• 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.

If a speaker insults your country

If a speaker seriously insults Ghana, send the chair a note to ask for a right of reply. Criticism of your country's policy is usually not enough, and the chair decides after the speech ends.

A point is a request to the chair, with no vote; a motion asks the committee to do something, and the committee votes on it.

You cannot hear Japan's speech, so you raise a point, and the chair asks Japan to use the microphone. Later you want a short debate on grants or loans, so you make a motion, and the committee votes on it.

The four points

At most conferences only one thing may interrupt a speaker: a point of personal privilege, when you cannot hear. Everything else waits until the speech ends, so raise your placard and name the point:

Save points of order for mistakes that change the result, such as a vote on the wrong draft. A point of order is about procedure, never a way to argue with a speaker, and the General Assembly sets the same limit. Ask the chairs about the topic itself in person, at a quiet moment.

How to make a motion

1. 1Wait for the chair to ask for motions.
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, called a “second”.
5. 5Vote. The committee votes by placard, in a procedural vote.

A specific motion passes more often. “A 10-minute moderated caucus on who pays into the loss and damage fund, one minute per speaker” tells the room what it will get. “A moderated caucus on the topic” does not.

When several motions compete, the committee votes on them in order of precedence. The one that interrupts debate most goes first, usually the longest unmoderated caucus. Once one passes, the chair usually drops the rest, and if all fail, debate goes back to the speakers' list.

Now suppose you get a rule wrong. After a few speeches you move to close debate, but nobody has written a draft yet:

The chair explains the rule, and the debate goes on. When the chair asks for motions and the room goes quiet, that is the easiest moment for your first one.

A short debate on one question, where the chair picks speakers from raised placards and nobody yields.

Your motion passes: a 10-minute moderated caucus on grants or loans for adaptation, with 30 seconds per speaker. Pick times that divide evenly, as here, so every slot is used.

When the chair calls on you, answer an argument another delegate made instead of repeating your opening speech. If nobody raises a placard, the caucus ends early.

Formal debate pauses, and you leave your seat to find your bloc and start writing.

Brazil's delegate moves for a 15-minute unmoderated caucus, and it passes. You walk over to the delegates of Brazil and Chile and 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.

When you walk up to a group, open with one sentence for the draft, not with your speech.

A working paper becomes a draft resolution once it follows the format, has enough sponsors and the dais approves it.

Your bloc rewrites its working paper in resolution format, with Ghana, Brazil and Chile as its sponsors. Once the dais approves it, it becomes a draft resolution, ready for debate and amendments. Some conferences ban drafts written at home, so check yours.

If every sponsor agrees, a change goes in without a vote; if any sponsor objects, the committee votes on it.

Japan's delegate proposes an amendment, new wording for operative paragraph 3, and all three sponsors agree, so it goes in as a friendly amendment. Norway's delegate proposes deleting operative paragraph 5. You object as a sponsor, so it becomes an unfriendly amendment and goes to a vote.

An unfriendly amendment usually needs signatures and the dais's approval first, then a vote. With several amendments, the committee votes first on the one that changes the draft most.

A two-thirds vote closes debate, then the committee votes in silence on each amendment, then on each draft.

Closing debate: moving to the vote

Once the drafts are ready, Chile's delegate moves for the closure of debate. Two delegates speak against it, but it gets a two-thirds majority, and every draft goes to the vote.

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.

While a vote runs

Once voting begins, no one enters or leaves the room, and you do not talk or pass notes. The committee votes on Norway's amendment first, and it fails. Then Draft resolution 1.1 passes, with 31 yes, 9 no and 6 abstentions.

How votes count

Votes on motions are procedural votes: everyone present votes yes or no. Votes on drafts and amendments are substantive votes, where you may also abstain, unless you answered “present and voting”.

Abstain when your country supports the aim but not the wording, or has no position. A no vote says your country opposes the text. Rules differ on whether abstentions count toward the simple majority a draft needs, so ask before an important vote.

On a draft, you can ask for a roll-call vote, where the chair calls each country in turn. After a motion to divide the question, the committee votes on each part, then on the whole draft.

The Security Council veto

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

No: North American, THIMUN and UN4MUN conferences run the same steps under different names, so find out which one yours follows.

Ghana's session followed North American procedure. THIMUN-style conferences have no caucuses: the same work happens in lobbying and in debate on each resolution. A third tradition, UN4MUN, follows real UN practice, and the Global Model UN conferences run on it.

Some conferences mix traditions, and some call the dais the Executive Board (EB). THIMUN-style conferences call closure “moving the previous question”. Your conference's rules always win, so ask the secretariat or your chair if anything is unclear.