Qatar holds elections in bid to burnish image before World Cup

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Qatar has announced the results of its first legislative elections, marking a limited broadening of political participation as the gas-rich Gulf state prepares to host the Fifa World Cup next year.

Polls were held at the weekend for two-thirds of the emirate’s consultative 45-member Shura Council. The interior ministry said on Sunday that turnout had reached 63.5 per cent, adding: “These elections will strengthen the rule of law and institutions of the country.”

None of the 28 women among 284 candidates was elected.

The council, which advises on state policies and approves the budget, is composed of 30 elected representatives, with the remainder appointed by the emir.

The polls were the latest in a series of reforms seeking to modernise the state and burnish its global image ahead of the World Cup. Other measures include legislation to improve much-criticised working conditions for labourers building the infrastructure for the tournament and a drive against official corruption.

As usual in the [Gulf Co-operation Council], patriarchy wins at the ballot and women do not win deserved seats

The elections, first scheduled for 2013, were delayed when the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, acceded to the throne after his father’s abdication.

Sheikh Tamim immediately had to contend with increasingly fractious relations with powerful Gulf neighbours, who accused Qatar of supporting terrorism. The tensions culminated in the 2017 Saudi-led blockade of the country, which ended earlier this year.

Dania Thafer, a professor at Georgetown University in the US, described the election winners as “males from a broad spectrum of representation of tribes/families”, including former government officials and business elites. “As usual in the [Gulf Co-operation Council], patriarchy wins at the ballot and women do not win deserved seats,” she said on Twitter. “It’s important that quotas be instituted.”

Elham Fakhro, a visiting scholar at the UK’s University of Exeter, said poor electoral outcomes for female candidates were common across the region. In Kuwait, the most democratic of the Gulf states, where the parliament has powers to hold officials to account, no women were elected in the last round of elections in 2020.

“This is surprising as it goes against another trend that we do see in the Gulf, which is a growing representation of women in public life, in government positions and across the private sector,” she said.

The emir could use his authority to appoint women to the consultative body, said Fakhro.

Beyond gender representation, the election campaign exposed other fissures in Qatari society, notably concerns over a two-tier citizenship system.

Qatar’s election law of July gave the right to “native” Qataris to stand for election and vote but barred “naturalised” citizens whose families were not in the country before 1930.

The move sparked protests in August led by those disenfranchised under the law, including members of the large Al Murrah tribe, which has a history of strained relations with the state.

The government said there had been a small number of arrests ahead of the vote for “incitement of hate speech” and “abusive online behaviour towards voters”, but insisted that it encouraged “public debate”.