Doha: The Qatar government has announced the date for country’s first election to vote for members of its top advisory panel—known as Shura council, according to Qatar News Agency (QNA)
The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has issued a decree setting the date for the election of members of the country’s first legislative elections to be held on October 2, 2021.
Elections for the 45-seat Shura Council, as proposed under the 2003 constitution, have been repeatedly postponed, and instead its members were appointed directly by Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Qataris will elect 30 members of the 45-seat body while Emir will appoint the remaining 15 members.
Applications for candidate registration for Qatar’s Shura Council elections started from Sunday, August 22 and will continue until Thursday, August 26, 2021.
The final list of candidates will be announced on September 15, after which the election campaign will begin.
Who can be nominated?
- Only descendants of Qataris who were citizens in 1930 are entitled to vote and stand in the first-ever Shura council poll, disqualifying members of naturalized families from that year.
- Election rules prohibit candidates from receiving financial support from abroad, with the risk of five years in prison.
- Candidates are subject to the campaign spending limit of 2 million riyal.
- The candidates must be over 30 years, not a minister or a member of the army, and cannot have a seat on Qatar’s municipal council, and they will be investigated by the country’s interior ministry.
- They must also be fluent in reading and writing in Arabic.
- Members of the ruling Al Thani family are also barred from standing in the elections but can vote.
Candidates have the right to withdraw their candidacy seven days before the election day by submitting a form to the committee.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani called on citizens, whose names are registered in the voter lists in all electoral districts to cast their votes in the elections.
Prime Minister and minister of interior, Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa, called on citizens to participate positively in the first elections to be held in the history of Qatar, QNA reported.