Women Candidates Fail To Break Through In Qatar Vote: Tally

Doha, Oct 3 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Oct, 2021 ) :Qatar wrapped up its first legislative polls Saturday with no women elected to a representative council that is seen as unlikely to alter the distribution of power in the emirate.

The vote was for 30 members of the 45-strong Shura Council, a body with limited powers that was previously appointed by the emir as an advisory chamber.

Male candidates were elected in all 30 of the seats which were up for election, according to a preliminary tally reported by several local media, despite 28 women initially being cleared to run in the polls.

The results raise the prospect that the emir will use his 15 direct appointments to the council to right the imbalance.

It is not known when the appointments will be announced, or when the council will meet.

Average turnout was 44.3 percent in the 29 Constituencies that had more than one candidate, state television reported, significantly higher than at 2019's municipal elections when fewer than 10 percent of voters turned out.

A provisional tally published by state television on Saturday afternoon suggested one-third of approved candidates, some 101 contenders, had dropped out of the race by Saturday afternoon, whereas the state-run Qatar news Agency later reported there were a total of 233 candidates.

It was unclear if those who had dropped out had formally withdrawn or called on their followers to back other candidates.

"Where candidates realised that they have no shot to win a seat, they decided to endorse other candidates," said King's College London associate professor Andreas Krieg.

Across the Gulf emirate, orderly queues of Qataris in national dress formed inside polling stations, mostly schools and sports halls, throughout the day.

In the 17th district, a chauffeur-driven Mercedes-Benz and a pearl white Rolls Royce SUV dropped off female voters at a Primary school. Women were a majority among the steady stream of those casting ballots there at lunchtime.

Observers say the repeatedly delayed decision to hold the election comes with Qatar under heightened scrutiny as it prepares to host the 2022 World Cup.