The Arbitration Committee's December 2008 elections opened on December 1. At the beginning of the election, thirty-four candidates were vying for seven open positions on the Committee.

Through the first four days of the election, thirteen candidates were receiving at least 50% support, the threshold for appointment:

• Casliber: 92.9%
• Risker: 86.7%
• Roger Davies: 83.9%
• Rlevse: 77.4%
• Vassyana: 72.4%
• Cool Hand Luke: 70.7%
• Jayvdb: 70.0%
• WJBscribe: 68.4%
• Wizardman: 67.4%
• Carcharoth: 66.1%
• SirFozzie: 61.0%
• Coren: 60.5%
• The Fat Man Who Never Came Back: 52.9%

The results are strikingly similar to those of the 2007 election, where, just like in this year's election, thirteen candidates had at least 50% support, and only one had over 90% support.

It could be said that this year's election shows a desire for "change" within the Committee; voters have shown deep discontent regarding some recent actions taken by the Arbitration Committee. In particular, the two arbitrators running for reelection, Charles Matthews and Jdforrester, have very low support, receiving just 19.0% and 17.8%, respectively. In comparison, since the introduction of on-wiki voting in the December 2005 elections, five sitting arbitrators have run for reelection, and none received less than 64% support.

Many of the candidates with high levels of support have expressed interest in improving the Committee's speed and transparency, as have many voters on the vote pages of Matthews and Forrester. This trend has not affected current arbitration clerk Rlevse and former clerk Jayvdb, however, as the two are currently in 4th and 7th, respectively.

As of press time, three candidates had withdrawn from the election: BillMasen, Gwen Gale, and, most notably, former arbitrator Sam Korn. Korn served on the Committee in 2006, and did not seek re-election in 2006 or 2007. Korn was receiving 51% support at the time of withdrawal, with most opposition coming due to inactivity. Korn said, "I've only just realised that the voting period has started -- I have been rather unwell for the last week or so and haven't been able to be on Wikipedia to answer questions and otherwise participate in the election process. ... I think I must withdraw my candidacy for this election. ... I very much appreciate the support I have received and apologise for this necessity."

The elections run for two weeks, ending on Sunday, December 14 at 23:59 UTC. It is anticipated that Jimbo Wales will make his selections soon afterward, and the newly elected Arbitrators will take their positions on January 1, 2009. Of the seven seats to be selected, five of the seats will be three-year terms in Tranche Beta, up for reelection in December 2011, while the other two will be one-year terms in Tranche Gamma, and will be up for reelection in December 2009.

Last week, we released our annual election guide, containing the responses to a few general questions asked to every candidate. The election guide is intended to be a brief overview of each candidate's beliefs and experiences. More detailed information about each candidate may be gleaned from their user pages, as well as their responses to questions from other users. Not all candidates have yet replied to our questions; their replies will be added as they are received.

Due to size, the guide has been split up alphabetically, though a page transcluding all sections is available below:

ArbCom candidate profiles:    A-F  |  G-K  |  L-S  |  T-Z  |  All  |  (Withdrawn)

Of the five arbitrators whose terms expire this year, two, Charles Matthews and Jdforrester, will stand for re-election. These five seats, along with the seats of UninvitedCompany, who resigned in September, and Jpgordon, who will resign on January 1, will be up for election, resulting a total of seven seats to be filled in the election.