A referendum in Qatar to scrap short-lived legislative polls has handed with greater than 90 p.c of the vote, officers stated on Wednesday, ending a flirtation with democracy within the Gulf monarchy.
The vote permitted a raft of constitutional amendments with 90.6 p.c of legitimate ballots forged by Qatari residents, the inside ministry stated.
“By collaborating within the referendum and by voting in favour of the constitutional amendments, Qataris have celebrated… the values of unity and justice,” Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, posted on X.
Eighty-four p.c of eligible voters among the many roughly 380,000 Qataris — a minority within the gas-rich peninsula — took half in Tuesday’s referendum, an inside ministry assertion stated.
The important thing proposal was to finish elections for 30 of the 45 seats of the Shura Council, an advisory physique with restricted powers, which befell for the primary and solely time in 2021.
The polls, a 12 months earlier than Qatar held the soccer World Cup underneath intense worldwide scrutiny, had stoked division as solely descendants of Qataris who had been residents in 1930 had been eligible to vote and run, and constituencies had been mapped out alongside tribal strains.
Some members of the sizeable Al-Murrah tribe had been amongst these excluded from the electoral course of, sparking a fierce debate on-line and sporadic protests on the time.
Amongst different adjustments permitted in Tuesday’s referendum was a transfer to permit all Qataris, together with naturalised residents, to carry ministerial workplace, a proper beforehand reserved for Qatari-born nationals.
Sheikh Tamim will now resume appointing all members of the Shura Council, which might suggest laws, approve the finances and recall ministers — topic to a veto by the emir.
In addition to the one-off legislative ballot, Qatar has additionally held municipal elections each 4 years since 1999.
