This evening CCP Leeloo posted a dev blog announcing the dates for the upcoming Council Of Stellar Management 11 (or CSM11) Elections.
They key dates for this years elections are:

• January 15^th, 2016 ? Candidacy period begins


• February 9^th, 2016 ? Candidacy period ends, background checks begin


• February 29^th, 2016 ? Voting period begins


• March 25^th, 2016 ? Voting ends


• April 21^st, 2016 ? Results are announced at Fanfest 2016

But what is the CSM? The CSM is a player-elected council who represent the views and interests of the players of the EVE Online community to CCP.
The most interesting part of this announcement is the inclusion of an updated CSM white paper. The white paper is the key document that outlines the structure and operation of the CSM. Major changes include

• Age restriction has been lowered to 18 years.


• Removal of  the requirement to share your real life name publicly if you wish to run for a Council seat.


• Permanent attendee (or people who are guaranteed a spot at the CSM Summits in Iceland twice a year) seats increased from 2 to 4.


• Finally a replacement mechanism to formalise the process of replacing members of the CSM who may have to leave the council before the end of the term.

If you are planning to run take special care to the application requirements

• Application period starts at 12:00 GMT on January 15^th, 2016


• All applications must be submitted through an application form, that will be available here (please note that this page will not be available until January 15^th)


• To apply your account must be older than 60 days (created no later than the 15th of November, 2015)


• Only active accounts will be eligible for applying


• If upon a security check any breach of EVE Online EULAoS will be found ? application will be rejected. It is required that personal information is up to date in the account management system (real life name and date of birth).


• To become an eligible candidate, a player must be 18 years of age or older, unless the legal age of majority in your home country is higher than 18, in which case the minimum age is the age of majority.


• The applicant must consent to provide their personal information to CCP. A CSM candidate can publish their personal information to the player base at their own discretion. On the application page field ?Country? is visible publicly. But the following information is only visible to CCP staff and will not be revealed by CCP

#EVE_NT will over the next few days be contacting candidates individually to talk to us to help assist you in selecting candidates who best represent your in game interests. If you are a candidate and you want to speak to us please get in contact with @TiberiusStarGaz on twitter or Tiberius StarGazer in game. Currently we will be contacting all candidates who have officially announced their intentions to run on the official EVE Forums.