UAE goes for first ever elections
Middle East Desk Report

ABU DHABI—The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has begun its first elections with a limited number of voters choosing half the members of an advisory council, a small step in a tightly controlled reform process.
Abdullah Seif Rashed Ahmad al-Kubaissi, a candidate for the Federal National Council (FNC), was the first to vote in Abu Dhabi when polls opened at 8:00 am (0400 GMT) Saturday.
Voting also got under way in the smaller emirate of Fujairah. The elections for half the FNC’s 40 members will continue on Monday and Wednesday in the five other emirates of the oil-rich UAE.
The figures involved sum up the modest nature of the exercise in the seven-member federation, the last of the Gulf Arab monarchies to introduce elections.
Each emirate has a sole polling station, because only 6,595 people will be able to vote in the whole country, including 1,163 women. Only members of the electoral colleges are allowed to run for the FNC, which sits for two years. There are a total of 438 candidates, including 63 women.
Officials had earlier given slightly higher figures for the electorate and candidates. The UAE has 825,000 citizens, of whom more than 300,000 are over the age of 18, but only the electoral colleges, chosen by each emirate’s ruler, will have the right to vote.
Voters in Abu Dhabi cast their ballots in a gymnasium festooned with national flags, where they could follow instructions for the electronic voting given by a female official on a giant screen.
The voters picked up to four candidates on a computer before entering their choice, printing it out and casting the paper in a ballot box.
“We will strive to make our council more effective and more in tune with the citizens’ concerns so as to consecrate real participation and shura (consultation),” read one banner raised in the polling station, citing President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan.
“The FNC elections have kick-started the process of political development,” echoed Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed al-Maktoum, who is also ruler of the emirate of Dubai and architect of its economic boom.
The first female candidate to vote was Mayssa Ahmad al-Mahiri. She is one of 14 women among a total of 99 candidates in Abu Dhabi, the largest and wealthiest emirate where four seats are up for grabs.
Abu Dhabi, which is also the UAE capital, has an electorate of 1,741, including 382 women. Voters will choose two FNC members in Fujairah, where the electoral college comprises 417 people. Thirty-five candidates, including one woman, are in the running.
Polling stations were due to close at 7:00 pm (1500 GMT). Electoral colleges will vote in Dubai and Ras al-Khaimah on Monday, and in Ajman, Sharjah and Umm al-Qaiwain on Wednesday, wrapping up the process of picking 20 members of the FNC, which can debate bills submitted by the government but cannot propose or pass legislation.
The remaining members will continue to be appointed by the rulers of the emirates, whose nationals make up barely one-fifth of the 4.1 million population.
The government insists that the polls are just the start of a gradual process that will eventually enable all Emiratis to elect half the members of an expanded council that will also enjoy greater powers.
In a Middle East buffeted by crises, the UAE stands out as a rare Arab success story. It is stable, prosperous and tolerant.
But while the UAE has won the gamble of economic and social modernization, it is at the bottom of the ladder in political terms. Even ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia held municipal elections last year, although only for men.