General elections were held in

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

for the first time on 2 October 2021, following an announcement by the Emir of Qatar on 22 August 2021. The elections for the Consultative Assembly were originally scheduled for the second half of 2013, but were postponed in June 2013 until at least 2016. In 2016 they were postponed again.Legislative elections in Qatar postponed until at least 2019
Doha News, 17 June 2016 Finally, in November 2020,

Emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...

Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (; born 3 June 1980) is Emir of Qatar, reigning since 2013. Tamim is the fourth son of former emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, born to his second spouse, Moza bint Nasser, Moza bint Nassir. He became heir ...

pledged to hold the election in October 2021.

Background

The elections were originally scheduled to be held in the last six months of 2013, but were postponed prior to the retiring

Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (; born 1 January 1952) is a member of Qatar's royal family, the House of Thani. He was the ruling Emir of Qatar from 1995 until 2013 when he abdicated the throne, handing power to his fourth son Tamim bin Hamad Al ...

transferring power to his son

. The Consultative Assembly's term was extended until 2016 and then until 2019. In October 2019 Al Thani issued an order for a committee to be formed to organise the elections, chaired by Prime Minister Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdul Aziz Al Thani.

Electoral system

Men and women aged over 18 are eligible to vote for 30 of the 45 seats in the Consultative Assembly according to the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

, with the remainder appointed by the Emir. On 29 July 2021, Al Thani approved the electoral law, which mandated the thirty members being elected from single-member constituencies by

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

. The law requires candidates to be at least thirty years old and 'of Qatari origin' (as defined by the 2005

nationality law Nationality law is the law of a sovereign state, and of each of its jurisdictions, that defines the legal manner in which a national identity is acquired and how it may be lost. In international law, the legal means to acquire nationality and for ...

). This limited voting to those descended from people who held citizenship in 1930, barring people who had been naturalised and members of the

Al Murrah The Al Murrah () (singular 'Al Marri') are an Arab tribe descended from the Banu Yam tribe. They mainly reside in countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain. Historically, the Al Murrah were a tribe of camel- ...

tribe from contesting the election and leading to protests.

Campaign

A total of 284 candidates contested the 30 seats, with 29 women running.Qatari voters weigh in on first legislative elections
Al Jazeera, 2 October 2021 Political parties are banned and all candidates ran as independents.

Preliminary results

No women were elected. Voter turnout was 63.5%. According to

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

, thousands of Qataris were excluded from voting.

References

External links

Shura Council Election Supervisory Committee
{{Qatari elections Elections in Qatar

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Non-partisan elections Election and referendum articles with incomplete results