Last update - 00:00 18/12/2006
Hand-picked voters cast ballots in Dubai poll
By Reuters
Hand-picked voters cast their ballots in the United Arab Emirates on Monday in the second phase of elections for an advisory council, the first in the Gulf Arab state's history.
Rulers of the seven emirates comprising the UAE have chosen 6,689 voters, less than one percent of its 800,000 nationals, to elect half of the 40-seat Federal National Council (FNC).
Voters elected six FNC members, including a woman, in the first phase of the polls in Abu Dhabi and Fujairah on Saturday. On Monday, they will elect four members in the region's booming trade hub of Dubai and three in the emirate of Ras al-Khaima.
Polls take place in the last three emirates on Wednesday.
"I am very happy to be participating politically for the first time inour nation," said Huda Mutawe, 27, a female government worker who is running in Dubai.
"I hope democracy will be on a wider scale so that the National Council members will all be elected by voters."
Once these polls are over, the FNC's role will be expanded from that of a
consultative body with no legislative powers to an assembly with more oversight powers, election officials say.
The UAE plans to extend suffrage to all Emiratis eventually, something which Anwar Gargash, minister of state for the FNC, has said could happen in four years.
The UAE is the only Gulf Arab state with no elected political bodies.Though still ruled by dynasties, its neighbours have all had elections of some kind.
Kuwait, the only Gulf Arab state with a parliament that has a say in state affairs, allowed women to run in parliamentary elections for the first time in June. Bahrain held a general election last month in which the Shi'ite opposition did well.
Diplomats and analysts say the affluence of the OPEC oil producer has helped the UAE's rulers steer the country through rapid economic growth without political turbulence.
There is no Islamist violence or real political dissent in the UAE, where many Emiratis, who the government takes care of financially, are not interested in politics.
In the first phase of polls, turnout averaged 70 percent though little more than 2,000 people were chosen to take part.
Voting got off to a brisk start in Dubai, with voters making their choice
electronically before dropping a computer-generated red ballot in a clear box as back up.
"I am very happy ... with participation in Dubai and Ras al-Khaimah. It has been excellent so far," Gargash told Reuters.
In Dubai, 1,520 voters will be choosing from 77 candidates, including 15 women. In Ras al-Khaimah, over 1,000 voters will choose from 80 candidates, including three women.
About 14 percent of the total candidates in the UAE are women and one won in the first round though there is no quota to ensure a minimum level of female participation in the FNC.
"We need women's role," said candidate Khaled Ali bin Zayed.