Over 27,000 to vote in CMC elections today

Doha: The fate of 85 candidates running for Central Municipal Council (CMC) elections will be decided today as over 27,000 voters will go to the polling booths to elect their representatives at the CMC for its sixth session.

“The polling stations in constituencies will open at 8am and will remain open till 5pm, followed by the counting of votes in the presence of candidates, and winners will be announced after the counting,” said Brigadier Abdul Rahman Ali Al Maliki, Head of Technical Committee for the CMC elections. “The total number of voters is 27,722, of which 52 percent are men,” he added.

Speaking  to Qatar TV, Al Maliki pointed out that in this election, a total of 85 candidates, including five women, are competing in 25 constituencies out of the 29. “Mmembers of four constituencies ‑ 7th, 22nd, 27th and 28th ‑ were elected by acclamation.”

Regarding the preparation, he said: “We have completed all the preparations and everything will go smoothly as per the plan. All polling stations have been equipped for a long time."

“Appropriate atmosphere has been created during the past six months, through technical, legal, media and other committees.”

He said that many lectures were held for supervising committees and they were introduced to all requirements.

The Central Municipal Council plays an important role in the field of municipal work. It aims, in accordance with the provisions of the law, to work with available means on the progress of the country in the field of municipal affairs.  It also aims to examine the planning, programmatic, economic, social, financial and administrative aspects of municipal and agricultural affairs. Voters should attend personally to the headquarters of the electoral district, accompanied with the ID card, and the choice of the candidate is secretly, the Ministry of Interior has said.

It also added that the voting process must be secretive and the voter must not name the candidate loudly which they have chosen. Voters who are unable to vote themselves should secretly tell the head of the station about their candidate and place the paper in the ballot themselves. Ministry of Interior has banned the electoral campaigns by the candidates inside the electoral headquarters. 

Candidates ran publicity campaigns in a competitive atmosphere and used social media in their campaigns as well as other media, while some of them used specialised advertising companies. Many candidates are basing their success on the projects which have been implemented in their constituencies in the previous session.