Help promote human rights in the Middle East and North Africa

Donate Today
Facebook-f Twitter Instagram Linkedin Youtube Envelope
Search
Close
  • English
  • العربية
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • What We Do
    • Who We Are
    • FAQs
    • Support Dawn
    • Work With Us
    • For the Media
  • Founder Jamal Khashoggi
    • Who Was Jamal Khashoggi?
    • Chronology of a Murder
    • UN Recommendations
    • International Reaction
    • In His Own Words
    • DAWN and Jamal
  • Countries
    • Saudi Arabia
    • Egypt
    • UAE
    • Israel-Palestine
    • DAWN's Culprits Gallery
  • Democracy In Exile
    • About
    • Submission Guidelines for Democracy in Exile
  • Advocacy
    • DAWN's Advocacy
    • The Lobbyist Hall of Shame
    • DAWN's Culprits Gallery
    • Reforming Foreign Policy
      • Aid Conditionality
      • Human Rights Go to War
    • US Foreign Policy in MENA
    • Joint Advocacy
  • Experts
  • Latest
Menu
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • What We Do
    • Who We Are
    • FAQs
    • Support Dawn
    • Work With Us
    • For the Media
  • Founder Jamal Khashoggi
    • Who Was Jamal Khashoggi?
    • Chronology of a Murder
    • UN Recommendations
    • International Reaction
    • In His Own Words
    • DAWN and Jamal
  • Countries
    • Saudi Arabia
    • Egypt
    • UAE
    • Israel-Palestine
    • DAWN's Culprits Gallery
  • Democracy In Exile
    • About
    • Submission Guidelines for Democracy in Exile
  • Advocacy
    • DAWN's Advocacy
    • The Lobbyist Hall of Shame
    • DAWN's Culprits Gallery
    • Reforming Foreign Policy
      • Aid Conditionality
      • Human Rights Go to War
    • US Foreign Policy in MENA
    • Joint Advocacy
  • Experts
  • Latest
Donate

Shura Council Elections Would Provide Qatari Citizens With a Stake and Voice in Government Affairs

May 24, 2021
in Democracy In Exile
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Michael Eisner

Michael Eisner is the General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer of DAWN (Democracy for the Arab World Now).

Published in Doha News, May 21, 2021

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani is on the brink of introducing a new measure of democracy in Qatar after details for the country's first elections for its otherwise fully appointed Shura Council were announced by the government on Wednesday.

Free and fair elections for this body will give Qatari citizens some voice in running their own affairs and determining the future course of the country. They will also provide Qatar with an opportunity to further carve out a distinct, more sustainable and inclusive path than its autocratic and violence-prone neighbors. 

Amidst a volatile region in which governments routinely imprison, torture and sometimes murder peaceful dissidents, Qatar stands out as a relative oasis of stability. Qatar even has aspects of freer governance, including a constitution that guarantees freedom of speech and press, a vibrant and independent international news agency Aljazeera, and a forward-looking ruler, Emir Tamim, who has voiced support for democratic ideals.   

And yet, Qatar's nod toward democracy has thus far been mostly cosmetic as the country still has no independent democratic institutions. In its annual report measuring political rights and civil liberties by country, Freedom House ranks Qatar below Afghanistan and Iraq.

Ranking stable Qatar, where citizens live in peace, below such war-torn countries might seem confusing, but Freedom House's assessment captures an essential truth about the political system of the Gulf state. Unlike Iraqis and Afghans, who vote for parliament representatives and national leaders, Qatari citizens have no meaningful opportunity to participate in government decision-making. 

This is to say nothing of the two million of the country's migrant workers, some of whom have no residency rights and continue to face exploitation and abuse by their employers.

The upcoming election for 30 out of the 45 members of the Shura Council has been a long time coming. The Qatari constitution, approved in a popular referendum in 2003, stated that 30 out of the 45 members of the Shura Council would be elected by direct, secret ballot. While successive emirs have scheduled, then cancelled the constitutionally-mandated elections for the Council, this time seems different.

In successfully resisting the three-and-a-half year blockade imposed by the Saudis, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, Qatar and its citizens have become more independent, demonstrated an impressive resilience, and carved a potential path for themselves that is distinct, more durable and more democratic than their Gulf neighbors.   

The October elections provide an opportunity for Qatar to continue along that path by taking a small but important step toward democratic governance. Qualifications on its authority notwithstanding, the Shura Council has the power to propose legislation, approve and amend the budget, and exercise a check over executive branch ministers.

The October elections would transfer 66.6% of that power from the government, who currently appoints all 45 Shura Council members, to Qatari citizens, in the process giving them a say in the way they are governed and providing the Qatari government with a measure of popular legitimacy. 

The election may well allow the country to develop a degree of democratic accountability, giving Qatari citizens, through their representatives, the power to dismiss ministers. The election can also promote civic participation and education. Having a stake in the outcome of an election, Qatari citizens will have an incentive and a responsibility to learn about pressing issues in order to make informed choices among candidates. 

Some Qataris express reservations about a popular election for legislators, pointing to the political polarization and government deadlocks in Kuwait, which has the most long-standing parliament among Gulf countries. Elections and parliaments don't generate polarization, though, as much as they reflect the tensions that already exist in society.

Qataris have also expressed concerns about the potential for a foreign government to buy influence with elected members of the Shura Council, or even gain control over a member. Keen on preserving its own absolute control in its own country and suppressing democratic aspirations across the region, the Saudi Arabia government has in the past pressured Qatar to postpone the Shura Council elections.

Viewing the potential of a successful election and Shura Council in Qatar as a threat, the Saudi government might well try to infiltrate the Council with its own paid agents in order to sabotage its operations.

*Qatar should address this risk not by cancelling elections but rather by implementing sturdy antidotes to blunt foreign interference, including by adopting campaign finance laws that prohibit any candidate or elected official from soliciting or accepting donations from foreign persons or entities. Qatar can build in additional safeguards to ban or cap private financing of candidates to limit the risk of donors unduly influencing politicians.

The Shura elections will not make Qatar a democratic country; for that Qataris would need to have the power to elect all of the representatives governing their country, and directly address the egregious and well-documented human rights abuses against migrant workers.

Elections carried out with universal suffrage for all adult citizens, and validated by an independent international election observer, will, though, provide Qataris with a strong voice in steering the future of the country, as well as a measure of dignity that accrues naturally to citizens in a democracy, who have some control over their own destiny.

The elections might also provide a foundation upon which to build a more robust system of checks and balances, rights and freedoms that will hopefully soon extend to all Qatari residents.

*This piece was written prior to the announced provisions for the electoral system.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Doha News, its editorial board or staff.

Photo credit: Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani attends the 41st Summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council in al-Ula, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 5, 2021. (Photo by Royal Council of Saudi Arabia/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Previous Post

U.S. State Department: Halt License for Weapons Sales to Israel

Next Post

U.S. State Department: Secret Approval of License for Weapons Sales to Israel Circumvents Historic Senate Vote on Arms Sale to Israel

Related Posts

Democracy In Exile

The Case for Reparations to the Victims of Yemen's War

In Yemen, war's costs have too often landed on civilians who bear no responsibility for the war nor for...

Kristine Beckerle
February 2, 2023
Democracy In Exile

We Are All Alaa Abdel Fattah

Alaa Abdel Fattah’s vision of a very different Egypt, along with that of millions of young Egyptians, has itself...

Juan Cole
February 1, 2023
Demonstrators are raising Syrian opposition flags and placards as they rally against a potential rapprochement between Ankara and the Syrian regime in the opposition-held city of Azaz, on the border with Turkey in Syria's northern Aleppo province, on December 30, 2022. (Photo by Rami Alsayed/NurPhoto)
Democracy In Exile

Where Would Rapprochement Between Turkey and Syria Leave the Syrian Opposition?

Turkey’s defense and intelligence ministers met with their Syrian counterparts in Moscow late last month, in the first high-level...

Emily Milliken
January 27, 2023
Democracy In Exile

The Silent Branch: How Israel's Supreme Court Crushes Palestinian Rights

Israel’s Supreme Court is a stronghold of justice for Jews only. It does not champion universal human rights, but...

Hagai El-Ad
January 26, 2023
Next Post
Palestinians inspect the damage in a residential district of Gaza City early on May 12, 2021, following continued Israeli airstrikes on the Hamas-run territory overnight. - Israeli air raids in the Gaza Strip have hit the homes of high-ranking members of the Hamas militant group, the military said Wednesday, with the territory's police headquarters also targeted. (Photo by Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

U.S. State Department: Secret Approval of License for Weapons Sales to Israel Circumvents Historic Senate Vote on Arms Sale to Israel

The Case for Reparations to the Victims of Yemen's War

February 2, 2023

We Are All Alaa Abdel Fattah

February 1, 2023
A picture taken during a guided tour organised by Egypt's State Information Service on February 11, 2020, shows an Egyptian policeman near watch towers at Tora prison on the southern outskirts of the Egyptian capital Cairo. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Egypt: Mother of Teenager Sentenced for Peaceful 2019 Protests Commits Suicide

February 1, 2023

Categories

  • Advocacy
  • Aid Conditionality
  • Anonymous Interviews
  • Anonymous Interviews Egypt
  • Anonymous Interviews Saudi Arabia
  • Anonymous Interviews UAE
  • Cases
  • Cases Egypt
  • Cases Saudi Arabia
  • Cases UAE
  • Countries
  • Culprits
  • Culprits Egypt
  • Culprits Israel
  • Culprits Saudi Arabia
  • Culprits UAE
  • DAWN
  • Dawn's Advocacy
  • Democracy In Exile
  • Editor's Pick
  • Egypt
  • Feature
  • Fellows
  • Foreign Policy
  • Human Rights
  • Human Rights Go to War
  • International Actors
  • Israel-Palestine
  • Lobbyists
  • Lobbyists Israel Palestine
  • Palestine
  • Political prisoners
  • Press Release Egypt
  • Press Release Israel-Palestine
  • Press Release Saudi Arabia
  • Press Release UAE
  • Press Releases
  • Saudi Arabia
  • UAE
  • Uncategorized
  • United Nations
  • US – Egypt
  • US – Saudi Arabia
  • US – UAE
  • USA

SUPPORT OUR MISSION

Donate Today

About Us

Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) is a nonprofit organization that promotes democracy, the rule of law, and human rights for all of the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Support Us

Donate Now

Newsletter

Facebook Twitter Instagram Linkedin Youtube

© DAWN All rights reserved. | Website Design by KRS Creative.

DONATE TODAY