Motions and Points walk through the concepts. This page is the reference: the full list of motions and points you’re likely to hear across conferences, what each one does, and roughly what it takes to pass. Use it to look something up mid-committee, not as the first thing to read.
The usual caveat applies, more here than anywhere else on this wiki: there’s no single global rulebook for MUN. Names, thresholds, and even what a motion means vary by conference. Where that variation is common enough to actively confuse people, it’s called out below. Your conference’s own Rules of Procedure always wins over anything here.
Points (the chair rules, nobody votes)
| Point | Also called | What it’s for |
|---|---|---|
| Point of order | — | Flags that the chair broke a rule or procedure. The only point that’s real in the actual UN. |
| Point of personal privilege | Point of privilege | Your own ability to participate is impaired: can’t hear, room’s too cold, broken placard. The one point that can reliably interrupt a speaker. |
| Point of parliamentary inquiry | Point of parliamentary enquiry, point of inquiry | A question to the chair about how procedure works, not about debate content. Never interrupts a speaker. |
| Point of information | POI | A question to whoever’s speaking, once they’ve yielded to questions. Some conferences use this term for a question to the chair instead — check which one yours means. |
| Right of reply | Right to reply | Response when your delegation’s personal or national integrity has been directly attacked. Entirely the chair’s call, usually has to be submitted in writing, and a reply to a reply isn’t allowed. |
| Call for quorum | Quorum call | Challenges whether enough delegations are present to do business. Quorum is assumed present until someone calls this. |
| Explanation of the vote | ”Rights”, right of explanation | After a roll call vote, a delegation explains why it voted the way it did. Requested in advance, chair sets the time limit. |
Motions — caucuses and debate
| Motion | Also called | What it does | Passes with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moderated caucus | Mod, mod caucus | Suspends the GSL; chair calls on delegates one at a time on a stated sub-topic. States total time, per-speaker time, and topic. | Simple majority |
| Unmoderated caucus | Unmod, informal caucus, lobbying session | Delegates leave their seats to negotiate freely. States a total time only. | Simple majority |
| Extend the caucus | Extension | Adds time to a mod or unmod that just ended. Some conferences only allow one extension. | Simple majority |
| Open the GSL | Open debate, open the speakers list | Starts the default speaking order the committee falls back to outside caucuses. | Simple majority (sometimes automatic) |
| Close the speakers list | Close the GSL | Stops new names being added. Once a closed list runs out, committee moves straight to voting. | Simple majority |
| Extend/reopen the speakers list | — | Reopens a closed list, or adds more names to it. | Simple majority |
| Set or extend the speaking time | — | Changes how long each speech gets. Some conferences leave this entirely to the chair’s discretion instead of a vote — worth checking. | Simple majority, where it’s voted at all |
| Suspension of the rules | — | Temporarily sets aside a specific rule for a stated reason, e.g. to hear an outside speaker. Chair can refuse outright. | Two-thirds |
| Postpone/table/suspend debate | Tabling, adjournment of debate | Sets a topic or draft aside without actually voting on its content. See the “table” trap below — the name and the threshold both vary a lot by conference. | Simple majority to two-thirds, depending on conference |
| Resume debate | Take from the table | Brings a postponed topic back to the floor. | Simple majority to two-thirds, depending on conference |
| Set/adopt the agenda | — | Decides which topic gets debated first, at the very start of committee. | Simple majority |
| Change the agenda | Reorder the agenda | Swaps or reorders the topic mid-session. | Simple majority |
| Recess / break | — | A short break that isn’t framed as a formal caucus. Overlaps a lot with suspending the meeting or an unmod, depending on conference habit. | Simple majority |
| Suspend the meeting | — | Ends business until the next session. | Simple majority, not debated |
| Adjourn the meeting | — | Ends committee for the conference. Usually only allowed on the final session. | Simple majority, not debated |
Motions — resolutions and amendments
| Motion | Also called | What it does | Passes with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Introduce a draft resolution | Introduce a draft res | Brings an approved draft to the floor once it’s cleared the sponsor/signatory bar. Some conferences vote on this, others just need dais approval. | No vote, or simple majority |
| Introduce an amendment | — | Proposes a change to a draft already on the floor. See [[amendments | Amendments]] for friendly vs. unfriendly. |
| Question the competence | Tabling for incompetence, motion of competence | Argues a draft falls outside the committee’s mandate (or, on some circuits, that it’s incoherent). Only in order right after the draft is introduced. | Simple majority to two-thirds, depending on conference |
| Refer to another body | — | Sends a resolution to a different committee, e.g. the Security Council. Flagged by more than one conference as unusual outside its own circuit. | Simple majority |
Motions — voting
| Motion | Also called | What it does | Passes with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Closure of debate | Cloture, close debate, move the previous question | Ends debate on the topic and sends committee straight into a vote. Debatable, but only a small capped number of speakers against, none in favor. | Two-thirds — the one threshold nearly every conference agrees on |
| Move into voting procedure | Enter voting procedure | Formally starts voting. On some conferences this isn’t its own motion at all — closure itself is what triggers the vote. | Simple majority, where it’s a separate motion |
| Divide the question | Vote clause by clause | Votes a resolution’s operative clauses separately instead of as one block; whichever fail get dropped. If every operative clause fails, the whole resolution fails. | Simple majority |
| Divide the house | — | Genuinely two different things depending on conference: (1) a re-vote that bans abstentions, used when enough delegations abstained to swing the result, or (2) a recount of a close vote. Easy to confuse with divide the question above, they’re unrelated. | Simple majority to two-thirds |
| Roll call / recorded vote | Request a recorded vote | Records each delegation’s position by name instead of by placard count. Usually granted just by asking. Substantive votes only, in most rulesets. | Often no vote needed |
| Reorder the draft resolutions | — | Changes which order multiple drafts get voted on, once voting procedure has started. | Simple majority |
| Important question | Motion to make an important question | Designates a resolution as needing a supermajority to pass, before the vote on that resolution happens. | Simple majority to designate; the resolution then needs two-thirds |
| Recount the vote | — | Re-counts a close placard vote. | Chair’s call |
| Reconsider the vote | Motion to reconsider | Reopens something already voted on. Who’s actually allowed to move this differs a lot by conference — sometimes only someone who voted with the majority, sometimes only someone who voted no. | Two-thirds, consistently |
| Unanimous consent | Without objection | Adopts something with no formal vote, as long as nobody objects. This is actually the default at the real UN — recorded votes are the exception there, not the rule. | No vote, unless someone objects |
Where conferences disagree the most
A few spots are worth a second look before you assume you know what’s standard:
- “Table” is the single most inconsistent word in MUN procedure — American usage means shelve it, British/Commonwealth usage means bring it forward, and Robert’s Rules (the tradition most of this is loosely descended from) draws its own distinction between the two that MUN usage regularly blurs. Confirm with your dais.
- Point of information means “a question to the speaker” at some conferences and “a question to the chair” at others — those are two different things wearing the same name.
- Divide the house and divide the question sound alike and get mixed up constantly, but they’re unrelated mechanics.
- Appeal the decision of the chair — both what it takes to overturn the chair (simple majority vs. two-thirds) and what’s even appealable (procedural rulings only, or substantive ones too) genuinely differ by conference. Even which way “yes” votes — for the chair or against — isn’t consistent. Ask before you assume.
- Precedence (which motion gets taken first when several are on the floor at once) is a real written rule at some conferences and pure convention at others. Don’t assume your home conference’s order travels with you.