Page 77 - MFNCA PR REPORT - OCTOBER 2024

10/16/24, 11:12 AM Qatar's ruler says his nation will vote on abandoning legislative elections after just one poll
However, it marks yet another rollback in the hereditarily ruled Gulf Arab states in its halting steps to embrace representational rule, howeve
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
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
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 b
membership in the Shura Council took place within families and tribes, and there are different views regarding the repercussions of such co
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 tim

The country’s electoral law distinguishes between born and naturalized Qatari citizens and bars the latter from electoral participation. Huma
system as “discriminatory,” excluding thousands of Qataris from running or voting. The disqualifications have sparked minor tribal protests t

Qatar first introduced plans for the legislative elections in its 2003 constitution, but authorities repeatedly postponed the vote. The country fi
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 Em
states apart.

The vote also came about a year ahead of Qatar hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup, an event that drew intense scrutiny from the West to bo
laborers and its system of governance. Qatar remains an important nation to the West as it hosted the Taliban and assisted in the chaotic 2
Afghanistan and as a mediator as the Israel-Hamas war rages in the Gaza Strip and has expanded to Lebanon.

Qatar, like other Gulf Arab states, is ruled by a hereditary leader with ultimate say in how the country is governed. Before the oil industry roa
hundreds of years of governance, rulers led by consensus among their people.

The U.S. after the Cold War began a push for democracy in the Mideast, while carefully balancing its relationships with longtime client state
with the Soviet Union and its support of Israel. That push strengthened under then-President George W. Bush following the 9/11 attacks, wh
tentative moves toward some type of representation.

The U.S. State Department did not respond to a request for comment over the announcement by Qatar, home to the massive Al-Udeid Air B
headquarters of the U.S. military's Central Command.

Governance by consensus is something Gulf rulers attempt to maintain even today even as some sit atop vast sums of oil and gas wealth t
countries.

Sheikh Tamim alluded to that in his speech Tuesday, maintaining that “the Shura Council is not a representative parliament in a democratic

“In Qatar, the people and the government have a direct civic relationship, and there are recognized norms and mechanisms for direct comm
and the governance,” he said.

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
four years. While the Kuwaiti parliament had struggled, it represented the Gulf Arab state's most free-wheeling legislative body and could ch

https://www.wral.com/story/qatars-ruler-says-his-nation-will-vote-on-abandoning-legislative-elections-after-just-one-poll/21674306/ 2/3