26 except again for the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which the rules of procedure of the Economic and Social Council apply. The rules of procedure and practices of the General Assembly provide a guide for interpreting the rules of procedure for the meetings of States parties. At the meeting of States parties itself, a representative of the Secretary-General makes an opening statement, updating States parties on recent events and information concerning the treaty and the treaty body. The representative then moves to the first item on the agenda, which is the election of the Chair. The Chair of the meeting rotates among the regional groups in alphabetical order, as follows: • African States • Asian and Pacific States • Eastern European States • Latin American and Caribbean States • Western European and other States The Chair is normally the Permanent Representative or Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission to the United Nations of the country elected to preside the meeting. The State party will nominate the candidate for Chair from the floor and election is generally by acclamation. The newly elected Chair then proceeds to the podium and chairs the rest of the meeting. The rules of procedure also require the election of up to four Vice-Chairs, although often only one is elected. The secretariat will also ask Permanent Missions to provide tellers during the elections. The tellers supervise the collection of ballots and, together with the secretariat, participate in and endorse the counting of votes. Once the meeting has elected its officers, the elections proceed by secret ballot. The secretariat distributes the ballot papers with the names of all candidates. Each State party indicates on the ballot paper the candidates it wishes to vote for. A State party may indicate as many as or fewer candidates than the total number of positions open for election, but not more. For example, if there are five vacant positions, the State may vote for up to five candidates by clearly marking the corresponding boxes. However, if it marks six or more, its vote is invalid and will not be counted. The secretariat calls out the names of each State party in alphabetical order and a representative of the State proceeds to the podium or is approached by a conference officer to submit its ballot. Once all States parties have voted, the secretariat and the tellers take the ballot box to a private room and count the votes.