Dubai: Emiratis went to polls yesterday to fill the elected seats on a government advisory body. The electoral roll is drawn up by the rulers of the seven states that make up the United Arab Emirates who also appoint the remaining members of the Federal National Council.
This year, 224,000 people had the right to vote out of a citizen population of just under one million. That compared with 129,000 in 2011 and just 6,000 in the UAE’s first election in 2006.
The council has a purely advisory role and its 40 seats are shared 20-20 between elected and appointed members. But the authorities have been deeply cautious about their experiment with elections and last year introduced sweeping new counterterrorism legislation.
A total of 330 candidates were contesting the 20 seats up for grabs. They included 87 women.
AFP
