Emirates To Hold Limited Voting
The United Arab Emirates announced Thursday it will hold a limited form of voting to pick members of a consultative council, a small step toward widening political participation in a country that has never held elections.
The reform is a limited one, allowing a select group to vote to choose half the members of the Federal National Council (link in arabic), the closest body the country has to a parliament, though it does not have legislative powers. The other half of the council’s members will continue to be appointed.
“We have decided to start activating the role of the FNC through electing half of its members through councils for each emirate and appointing the other half. By doing this, we will embark on a march that culminates in more participation and interaction from all the citizen of the country,” the UAE president, Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said, announcing the reform, according to the official Emirates news agency.
Source: Netscape News.
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