and the secretariat accordingly requests the regional groups from the four regional groups who are not nominating the chair to submit their nominations for vice-chairperson. The role of the vice-chairperson is to stand in for the chairperson if he or she needs to leave the room during the meeting. The election of the chairperson proceeds as the first item on the agenda in the meeting under the temporary chairmanship of the representative of the SecretaryGeneral. The candidate for chairperson is normally formally nominated from the floor of the meeting by the representative of the State party which held the chair at the previous meeting. Election is normally by acclamation. The newly-elected chairperson then oversees the election of the vice chairpersons by acclamation. The secretariat also asks permanent missions to delegate staff members to act as tellers during the election process. The tellers ensure that the ballot boxes are empty before voting commences, supervise the collection of ballots and participate in and endorse the counting of votes after the voting has ended, together with members of the secretariat. The election cannot be conducted until the tellers have been nominated so delegations are strongly encouraged to volunteer their staff members and inform the secretariat in advance of the meeting. How are the elections conducted? The elections are conducted in accordance with the rules of procedure for the meeting of state parties (see list above), supplemented by the rules of procedure of the General Assembly. The human rights treaties specify that the persons elected to be treaty body members shall be those nominees who obtain the largest number of votes and the absolute majority of votes of the representatives of States parties present and voting at the meeting. 21