Page 382 - UAE Truncal States

The Formation of the Federation
inserted into the draft presented to the Deputy Rulers, who therefore
had no alternative but to adjourn, after lengthy discussions, and to
request that the constitutional committee produce an integrated
version of the entire text. It look this committee all evening of the
24th and part of the morning of the 25th of October 1970 to agree on
the fair copy of the drafts and to decide that five controversial items
should be referred to the Committee of Deputy Rulers for further
discussion.75 These items were 1. The siting of the capital, 2. Repre­
sentation in the Union Council in the permanent constitution, 3. The
method of voting in the Supreme Council of Rulers, 4. Representa­
tion in the Union Council while the provisional constitution was in
force, and 5. Provisions concerning aviation.
At the insistence of Bahrain, representation in the Union Council
was discussed first. Although Bahrain had agreed at the Supreme
Council meeting in October 1969 to equal representation, that is, four
members from each of the nine Emirates, as recorded in the
communique which was never signed, it now insisted on represen­
tation on the basis of the size of the population of each Emirate.76 It
became obvious during the course of the long and heated debate
about this point that Bahrain had modified its position in the light of
the recent survey of public opinion conducted by the UN emissary
and in response to the popular requests for more democratic
institutions. When it became clear that Bahrain’s formula for the
mode of representation was not acceptable, it changed its stance,
proposing that a further paragraph be inserted requiring that, before
the four-year period for the provisional constitution expired, a
census should be conducted and that provisions should be made to
introduce proportional representation on the Union Council. As
before, Qatar led the opposition to this provision and persuaded
Dubai and the smaller Emirates, except for Sharjah, to vote
likewise;77 Abu Dhabi, usually given to conciliation, abstained. The
Bahraini delegation maintained their position; they abstained from
voting for the rest of the meeting and at the end declared their
unwillingness to take any further part in the discussions “before
ensuring that the Constitution guarantees the rights of the people of
the Union, particularly in so far as the representation of the people
in the Union Council is concerned.”78 The delegations decided not to
propose a date for the Supreme Council of Rulers’ meeting, realising
that the plainly-visible rift between some members made a great deal
of informal discussion and probably some outside mediation
advisable.79
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