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The disappointed candidates in the polls where the turnout for the election of 30 members of the 45-seat Shura Council was 63.5%.
The results of Qatar’s first legislative council election have been announced, with none of the 26 candidates winning the ballot box.
Qatari citizens voted on Saturday in the Arab Gulf state’s first legislative elections for two-thirds of the Shura Advisory Council, a process that sparked a nationwide debate on electoral inclusion and citizenship.
The Shura Council has legislative power and approves general state policies and the budget, but has no say in defining defense, security, economic and investment policy for the small but rich gas producer, which prohibits political parties.
The participation rate in the election of the 30 members of the 45-seat body was 63.5%, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Sunday. The Emir will continue to appoint the remaining 15 members of the Council.
The results showed that none of the women who were part of the polls were elected, disappointing candidates who had wanted to give a voice to women and other Qataris in the country’s political process.
“Having all men is not Qatar’s vision,” said Aisha Hamam al-Jasim, 59, a nursing officer who worked in Markhiya district, the capital Doha.
She urged Qatari women to start “expressing what they believe in” and to vote for strong female candidates in the future.
Several candidates had sought to improve the integration into Qatari society of the children of Qatari mothers married to foreigners who, as in other Gulf States, cannot pass their Qatari nationality to their children.
Elections sparked national debate on electoral inclusion and citizenship [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]Candidate Al-Maha Al-Majid, a 34-year-old industrial engineer, took part in the election to change attitudes.
“To convince the males [to vote for women], yes, we may have to work or put in extra effort… I am ready to go that extra mile to be part and convince this society that women can do it, ”she said.
The elections sparked a national debate on electoral inclusion and citizenship.
Tribal sensitivities were stoked after some members of a main tribe were denied the right to vote under a law restricting voting to Qataris whose families were present in the country before 1930.
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