Page 67 - MFNCA PR REPORT - OCTOBER 2024

10/16/24, 11:11 AM Qatar's ruler says his nation will vote on abandoning legislative elections after just one poll
The body does not have sway over matters of defense, security and the

economy.

However, it marks yet another rollback in the hereditarily ruled Gulf Arab states

in its halting steps to embrace representational rule, however tentative, following

efforts by the United States to push harder for democratic reforms in the Middle

East after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and hopes for democracy in the region

rose in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring.

From its perspective, Qatar saw the one-time 2021 vote likely as increasing

tensions between tribes and families in the country just months after a

diplomatic crisis between Doha and four Arab nations ended.

“We are all one family in Qatar,” Sheikh Tamim said, according to a transcript

published by the state-run Qatar News Agency. “The contest between
candidates for membership in the Shura Council took place within families and

tribes, and there are different views regarding the repercussions of such

competition on our norms, traditions, as well as the conventional social

institutions and their cohesion.”

The emir added: “The contest assumes an identity-based character that we are

not equipped to handle, with potential complications over time that we would

rather avoid.”

The country’s electoral law distinguishes between born and naturalized Qatari

citizens and bars the latter from electoral participation. Human Rights Watch

described the system as “discriminatory,” excluding thousands of Qataris from

running or voting. The disqualifications have sparked minor tribal protests that

led to several arrests.

Qatar first introduced plans for the legislative elections in its 2003 constitution,

but authorities repeatedly postponed the vote. The country finally held the vote

to elect two-thirds of the Shura Council in October 2021, just after the end of a

boycott of Qatar by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
that tore the Gulf Arab states apart.

https://news.yahoo.com/news/qatars-ruler-says-nation-vote-145202806.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmluZy5jb20v&guce… 2/4