DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) 鈥 Qatar voted in a snap poll Tuesday to decide whether to end its limited voting for legislative seats, a measure likely to pass and end the country's short-lived experiment in electing members of the advisory Shura Council.
Voting took place as the world's attention focused on the U.S. presidential election, with even Qatar鈥檚 state-funded satellite news network Al Jazeera offering brief acknowledgments of the vote wedged between coverage of the U.S. election and the Mideast wars. Though Qatar's ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, announced last month a vote would take place, it was only Sunday that authorities announced the date of the poll.
Voting ran for 12 hours and ended at 7 p.m. local time. Results are expected on Wednesday. All Qatari employees in the country were also granted permission to leave work from 11 a.m. to vote.
Qatar's state news agency described the voting as 鈥渁n enthusiastic atmosphere and a historic moment, clearly confirming everyone鈥檚 keenness to make this national celebration a success.鈥
The vote will 鈥渟trengthen the social fabric in the most beautiful image and form, which honestly represents an important stage in the country鈥檚 victorious march and its national unity,鈥 the news agency added.
Qatar first introduced plans for legislative elections in its 2003 constitution, but authorities repeatedly postponed implementing the vote. The country finally held elections for two-thirds of the Shura Council, which drafts laws, approves state budgets and advises the ruler, in October 2021.
The elections came after the end of a boycott of Qatar by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates . It also came about a year ahead of , an event that drew intense scrutiny from the West of the country's treatment of foreign laborers and its system of governance.
Qatar remains an important nation to the West as it hosted the Taliban and assisted in and as and has expanded to Lebanon.
But the elections created problems in the energy-rich nation. Electoral law distinguishes between born and naturalized Qatari citizens and bars the latter from electoral participation. Human Rights Watch described the system as 鈥渄iscriminatory,鈥 excluding thousands of Qataris from running or voting. The disqualifications sparked minor protests that led to several arrests.
In announcing the vote on changing the constitution, Sheikh Tamim said: 鈥淭he contest between candidates for membership in the Shura Council took place within families and tribes, and there are different views regarding the repercussions of such competition on our norms, traditions, as well as the conventional social institutions and their cohesion.鈥
鈥淭he contest assumes an identity-based character that we are not equipped to handle, with potential complications over time that we would rather avoid," he added.
The vote marks yet another rollback in the hereditarily ruled Gulf Arab states of halting steps to embrace representational rule following efforts by the United States to push harder for democratic reforms in the Middle East after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Hopes for democracy in the region also rose in the wake of .
In May, . While the Kuwaiti parliament had struggled, it represented the Gulf Arab state鈥檚 most free-wheeling legislative body and could challenge the country鈥檚 rulers.
