Page 69 - 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
But it's not just Qatar rolling back on its experiment in representational

government. In May, the ruler of oil-rich Kuwait dissolved his country's

parliament for as much as four years. While the Kuwaiti parliament had

struggled, it represented the Gulf Arab state's most free-wheeling legislative

body and could challenge the country's rulers.

Over a decade on from the 2011 Arab Spring protests, “we’ve seen this kind of

retreat coming for some time,” said Kristin Smith Diwan, a senior resident

scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

“It's important to recognize there has been a debate on this and there was a

popular push from below for more representation and accountability,” Diwan

said. “But it seems like that moment has passed.”

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