PEP: 13
Title: Python Language Governance
Author: The Python core team and community
Status: Active
Type: Process
Topic: Governance
Created: 16-Dec-2018


Abstract
========

This PEP defines the formal governance process for Python, and records
how this has changed over time. Currently, governance is based around
a steering council. The council has broad authority, which they seek
to exercise as rarely as possible.


Current steering council
========================

The 2026 term steering council consists of:

* Barry Warsaw
* Donghee Na
* Pablo Galindo Salgado
* Savannah Ostrowski
* Thomas Wouters

Per the results of the vote tracked in :pep:`8107`.

The core team consists of those listed in the private
https://github.com/python/voters/ repository which is publicly
shared via https://devguide.python.org/core-team/team-log/.


Specification
=============

The steering council
--------------------

Composition
~~~~~~~~~~~

The steering council is a 5-person committee.


Mandate
~~~~~~~

The steering council shall work to:

* Maintain the quality and stability of the Python language and
  CPython interpreter,
* Make contributing as accessible, inclusive, and sustainable as
  possible,
* Formalize and maintain the relationship between the core team and
  the PSF,
* Establish appropriate decision-making processes for PEPs,
* Seek consensus among contributors and the core team before acting in
  a formal capacity,
* Act as a "court of final appeal" for decisions where all other
  methods have failed.


Powers
~~~~~~

The council has broad authority to make decisions about the project.
For example, they can:

* Accept or reject PEPs
* Enforce or update the project's code of conduct
* Work with the PSF to manage any project assets
* Delegate parts of their authority to other subcommittees or
  processes

However, they cannot modify this PEP, or affect the membership of the
core team, except via the mechanisms specified in this PEP.

The council should look for ways to use these powers as little as
possible. Instead of voting, it's better to seek consensus. Instead of
ruling on individual PEPs, it's better to define a standard process
for PEP decision making (for example, by accepting one of the other
801x series of PEPs). It's better to establish a Code of Conduct
committee than to rule on individual cases. And so on.

To use its powers, the council votes. Every council member must either
vote or explicitly abstain. Members with conflicts of interest on a
particular vote must abstain. Passing requires a strict majority of
non-abstaining council members.

Whenever possible, the council's deliberations and votes shall be held
in public.


Electing the council
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A council election consists of two phases:

* Phase 1: Candidates advertise their interest in serving. Candidates
  must be nominated by a core team member. Self-nominations are
  allowed.

* Phase 2: Each core team member can assign zero to five stars to each
  candidate. Voting is performed anonymously. The outcome of the vote
  is determined using the `STAR voting system <https://www.starvoting.org/>`__,
  modified to use the `Multi-winner Bloc STAR <https://www.starvoting.org/multi_winner>`__
  approach. If a tie that is not automatically resolved by the election software occurs, it may
  be resolved by mutual agreement among the candidates, or else the
  winner will be chosen at random.

Each phase lasts one to two weeks, at the outgoing council's discretion.
For the initial election, both phases will last two weeks.

The election process is managed by a returns officer nominated by the
outgoing steering council. For the initial election, the returns
officer will be nominated by the PSF Executive Director.

The council should ideally reflect the diversity of Python
contributors and users, and core team members are encouraged to vote
accordingly.


Term
~~~~

A new council is elected after each feature release. Each council's
term runs from when their election results are finalized until the
next council's term starts. There are no term limits.


Vacancies
~~~~~~~~~

Council members may resign their position at any time.

Whenever there is a vacancy during the regular council term, the
council may vote to appoint a replacement to serve out the rest of the
term.

If a council member drops out of touch and cannot be contacted for a
month or longer, then the rest of the council may vote to replace
them.


Conflicts of interest
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While we trust council members to act in the best interests of Python
rather than themselves or their employers, the mere appearance of any
one company dominating Python development could itself be harmful and
erode trust. In order to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest,
at most 2 members of the council can work for any single employer.

In a council election, if 3 of the top 5 vote-getters work for the
same employer, then whichever of them ranked lowest is disqualified
and the 6th-ranking candidate moves up into 5th place; this is
repeated until a valid council is formed.

During a council term, if changing circumstances cause this rule to be
broken (for instance, due to a council member changing employment),
then one or more council members must resign to remedy the issue, and
the resulting vacancies can then be filled as normal.


Ejecting core team members
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In exceptional circumstances, it may be necessary to remove someone
from the core team against their will. (For example: egregious and
ongoing code of conduct violations.) This can be accomplished by a
steering council vote, but unlike other steering council votes, this
requires at least a two-thirds majority. With 5 members voting, this
means that a 3:2 vote is insufficient; 4:1 in favor is the minimum
required for such a vote to succeed. In addition, this is the one
power of the steering council which cannot be delegated, and this
power cannot be used while a vote of no confidence is in process.

If the ejected core team member is also on the steering council, then
they are removed from the steering council as well.


Vote of no confidence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In exceptional circumstances, the core team may remove a sitting
council member, or the entire council, via a vote of no confidence.

A no-confidence vote is triggered when a core team member calls for
one publicly on an appropriate project communication channel, and
another core team member seconds the proposal within one week.

The vote lasts for two weeks. Core team members vote for or against.
If at least two thirds of voters express a lack of confidence, then
the vote succeeds.

There are two forms of no-confidence votes: those targeting a single
member, and those targeting the council as a whole. The initial call
for a no-confidence vote must specify which type is intended. If a
single-member vote succeeds, then that member is removed from the
council and the resulting vacancy can be handled in the usual way. If
a whole-council vote succeeds, the council is dissolved and a new
council election is triggered immediately.


The core team
-------------

Role
~~~~

The core team is the group of trusted volunteers who manage Python.
They assume many roles required to achieve the project's goals,
especially those that require a high level of trust. They make the
decisions that shape the future of the project.

Core team members are expected to act as role models for the community
and custodians of the project, on behalf of the community and all
those who rely on Python.

They will intervene, where necessary, in online discussions or at
official Python events on the rare occasions that a situation arises
that requires intervention.

They have authority over the Python Project infrastructure, including
the Python Project website itself, the Python GitHub organization and
repositories, the bug tracker, the mailing lists, IRC channels, etc.


Prerogatives
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Core team members may participate in formal votes, typically to nominate new
team members and to elect the steering council.


Membership
~~~~~~~~~~

Python core team members demonstrate:

- a good grasp of the philosophy of the Python Project
- a solid track record of being constructive and helpful
- significant contributions to the project's goals, in any form
- willingness to dedicate some time to improving Python

As the project matures, contributions go beyond code. Here's an
incomplete list of areas where contributions may be considered for
joining the core team, in no particular order:

- Working on community management and outreach
- Providing support on the mailing lists and on IRC
- Triaging tickets
- Writing patches (code, docs, or tests)
- Reviewing patches (code, docs, or tests)
- Participating in design decisions
- Providing expertise in a particular domain (security, i18n, etc.)
- Managing the continuous integration infrastructure
- Managing the servers (website, tracker, documentation, etc.)
- Maintaining related projects (alternative interpreters, core
  infrastructure like packaging, etc.)
- Creating visual designs

Core team membership acknowledges sustained and valuable efforts that
align well with the philosophy and the goals of the Python project.

It is granted by receiving at least two-thirds positive votes in a
core team vote that is open for one week and is not vetoed by the
steering council.

.. note:: The devguide has a `suggested template
   <https://devguide.python.org/core-developers/become-core-developer/#poll-template>`__
   to use for such votes.

Core team members are always looking for promising contributors,
teaching them how the project is managed, and submitting their names
to the core team's vote when they're ready.

There's no time limit on core team membership. However, in order to
provide the general public with a reasonable idea of how many people
maintain Python, core team members who have stopped contributing are
encouraged to declare themselves as "inactive". Those who haven't made
any non-trivial contribution in two years may be asked to move
themselves to this category, and moved there if they don't respond. To
record and honor their contributions, inactive team members will
continue to be listed alongside active core team members; and, if they
later resume contributing, they can switch back to active status at
will. While someone is in inactive status, though, they lose their
active privileges like voting or nominating for the steering council,
and commit access.

The initial active core team members will consist of everyone
currently listed in the `"Python core" team on GitHub
<https://github.com/orgs/python/teams/python-core/members>`__ (access
granted for core members only), and the
initial inactive members will consist of everyone else who has been a
committer in the past.


Changing this document
----------------------

Changes to this document require at least a two-thirds majority of
votes cast in a core team vote which should be open for two weeks.

No vote is required to update note blocks and the "Current steering
council" and "History of council elections" sections with current
information.


History
=======

Creation of this document
-------------------------

The Python project was started by Guido van Rossum, who served as its
Benevolent Dictator for Life (BDFL) from inception until July 2018,
when he `stepped down
<https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-committers/2018-July/005664.html>`__.

After discussion, a number of proposals were put forward for a new
governance model, and the core devs voted to choose between them. The
overall process is described in :pep:`8000` and :pep:`8001`, a review of
other projects was performed in :pep:`8002`, and the proposals themselves
were written up as the 801x series of PEPs. Eventually the proposal in
:pep:`8016` was `selected
<https://discuss.python.org/t/python-governance-vote-december-2018-results/546>`__
as the new governance model, and was used to create the initial
version of this PEP. The 8000-series PEPs are preserved for historical
reference (and in particular, :pep:`8016` contains additional rationale
and links to contemporary discussions), but this PEP is now the
official reference, and will evolve following the rules described
herein.


History of council elections
----------------------------

* January 2019: :pep:`8100`
* December 2019: :pep:`8101`
* December 2020: :pep:`8102`
* December 2021: :pep:`8103`
* December 2022: :pep:`8104`
* December 2023: :pep:`8105`
* December 2024: :pep:`8106`
* December 2025: :pep:`8107`


History of amendments
---------------------

* 2019-04-17: Added the vote length for core devs and changes to this document.
* `2024-12-10 <https://discuss.python.org/t/64971>`__:
  Adopted Multi-winner Bloc STAR voting for council elections.
* `2024-12-10 <https://discuss.python.org/t/72293/4>`__:
  Added a one-week deadline for seconding a vote of no confidence.
* `2025-11-12 <https://discuss.python.org/t/104607>`__:
  Clarified that the software used for elections may resolve ties
  automatically if possible.



Acknowledgements
================

This PEP began as :pep:`8016`, which was written by Nathaniel J. Smith
and Donald Stufft, based on a Django governance document written by
Aymeric Augustin, and incorporated feedback and assistance from
numerous others.


Copyright
=========

This document has been placed in the public domain.
