Dear Wikimedians of Sri Lanka,

The 2021 Board of Trustees election opens on 4 August 2021. Candidates from the community were asked to submit their candidacy. After a three-week-long Call for Candidates, there are 20 candidates for the 2021 election https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2021/Candidates#Candidate_Table .

The Wikimedia movement has the opportunity to vote for the selection of community and affiliate trustees. The Board is expected to afterwards select the four most-voted candidates to serve as trustees, starting in September, for a term of three years.

How can you get involved?

*Learn more about the candidates* Candidates from across the movement have submitted their candidatures https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2021/Candidates#Candidate_Table. Learn about each candidate to inform your vote. The community submitted questions for the candidates to answer during the campaign. Candidates will answer the list of community questions https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2021/Candidates/CandidateQ%26A collated by the Elections Committee on Meta. In the coming weeks, candidates will have the opportunity to submit videos of themselves speaking about their candidacies.

*Participate in campaign activities* The team of facilitators supporting this Board election has planned some activities for the campaign period. These activities can be found on the Board election page on Meta https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2021#Campaign_Activities. Community members are encouraged to organize activities in their own communities. We do ask that any activities intended to involve candidates remain respectful of their time since candidacy can be very time-consuming. Please list activities you organize on the Board election page https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2021#Campaign_Activities on Meta so that more people can find them. Facilitators https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2021#Team and Election Volunteers https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2021/Election_Volunteers are available if you need support.

- There is a meetup being planned for community members from or associated with South Asia, to interact with the candidates, on 30 July and 1 August. More details on that will be shared next week.

Please spread the word so that more people can support finding the best candidates to help guide the Wikimedia Foundation and support the needs of the movement over the next few years. -- Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (he/him) Board Governance Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation