2019 Emirati parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in the United Arab Emirates on 5 October 2019 to elect the half of the members of the Federal National Council. The elections took place through an electoral college, the membership of which was expanded from 224,279 in 2015 to 337,738 in 2019.[1]

United Arab Emirates
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
the United Arab Emirates

Member State of the Arab League

 United Arab Emirates portal

Electoral system

The 40-member Federal National Council consists of 20 indirectly-elected members and 20 appointed members. The 20 elected members were elected by single non-transferable vote in seven electoral colleges based on the emirates: the colleges of Abu Dhabi and Dubai elects four members each, the colleges of Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah three each, and the colleges of Ajman, Fujairah and Umm al-Quwain two each.[2] Voters can vote for only one candidate in their emirate.[3] In December 2018 President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued a directive that half the members of the Council should be women.[4]

Under the constitution of the United Arab Emirates, "each emirate shall be free to determine the method of selecting the citizens representing it in the Federal National Council". The rulers of each emirate decides who will be able to vote;[5] the total number of voters has increased at each election, with an objective that all citizens will be able to vote in the future.[6]

On election day, 39 voting centers were opened in the UAE, nine of which had been open for early voting on 1–3 October. Overseas voters were able to vote in UAE embassies on 22–23 September.[7]

Campaign

A total of 479 candidates contested the elections.[8] As there were no political parties at the time of the elections, all candidates ran as independents.

Results

A total of 117,592 voters voted, giving a voter turnout of 34.81%. The number of votes cast increased by 48.5% compared to the 2015 elections.[9]

Seven of the 20 elected members were women,[10] although the sole incumbent elected female MP Naama al-Sharhan failed to win re-election in Ras al-Khaimah.[11] As such, 13 of the 20 appointed members were women in order to achieve gender parity.[10]

Party Votes % Seats
Independents20
Invalid/blank votes––
Total117,59220
Registered voters/turnout337,73834.81–
Source: The National

Elected members
Emirate Elected members Votes Notes
Abu DhabiSuhail al-Affari2,624
Khalfan al-Shamsi2,495
Naema al-Mansouri444
Moaza al-Amri370
AjmanAhmad Suwaidi680
Hind al-Olayli114
DubaiHamad al-Rahoumi1,517Re-elected
Osama al-Shafar1,032
Mariam Bin Thania374
Sarah Filknaz333
FujairahMohammed al-Yammahi2,160Re-elected
Sabreen al-Yamahi955
Ras al-KhaimahYousef al-Shihhi2,569
Saeed al-Abdi1,649
Ahmad al-Shihhi1,501
SharjahHumaid al-Shamsi1,227
Adnan al-Hammadi985
Obaid al-Ghoul947
Umm al-QuwainMohammed al-Kashef919
Athra Bin Rakkad270
Source: The National
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References
  1. FNC candidate registration centres launched Gulf News, 7 August 2019
  2. Electoral system IPU
  3. Federal National Council elections: how to vote The National, 30 September 2019
  4. Sheikh Khalifa: UAE's Federal National Council to be 50 per cent women The National, 8 December 2018
  5. "البوابة الرسمية لحكومة الإمارات العربية المتحدة". www.government.ae. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  6. The Political System of the UAE Government of the United Arab Emirates
  7. FNC election, everything you need to know Gulf News, 30 September 2019
  8. The nation votes: residents head to polling stations for landmark FNC elections The National, 5 October 2019
  9. "اللجنة الوطنية للانتخابات تعلن النتائج الأولية للفائزين في انتخابات المجلس الوطني الاتحادي 2019". UAE National Electoral Commission, 6 October 2019.
  10. Newly elected members of Federal National Council revealed The National, 6 October 2019
  11. Election results National Election Commission
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