Central Municipal Council Election Details Revealed

Fuente: 
Ministry of Interior, Qatar
Fecha de publicación: 
29 Sep 2014

The working group for the preparations of fifth Central Municipal Council Election revealed the details on constituencies on preparations and constituencies, in a press conference held on Sunday 28/09/2014 at Civil Defence club.

The press conference was attended by Director of Legal Affairs Department Brig. Salim Saqar al Merikhi, who is also the chairman of the working group, Asst. Director of General Directorate of Information System Brig. Abdul Rahman al Maliki, Director of Public Relations Department Col. Abdullah Khalifa al Muftah and Capt. Mubarak Ali Majid from Elections Department.

The fifth CMC elections will be held in May 2015 as the preparatory processes will start in January.

Brig. Salim Saqr al Merikhi said that the Article 4 of the Law No. 12/1998 specifies: “The Minister of Interior shall issue a resolution identifying the constituencies, their respective regions and the number of members who shall be elected therefrom”. According to this law the then Minister of Interior issued the constituencies in 1998. As Qatar has witnessed drastic changes in urban expansion and population growth it was needed to restructure the constituencies which were defined before 15 years.

He said that many of the urban areas in Doha have been depopulated and new urban areas have been formed. He pointed out that the Interior Ministry has formed a committee to study over the existing constituencies. This study was based on three foundations, the first of which was changing of the constituencies according to the Qatari population and density and perceptions of its future, secondly, taking into account the nature of the representation in the Council so that it would reflect the different cities and villages in different regions and thirdly consideration of the social frame of the constituencies.

The law stipulates that Council shall consist of twenty-nine members representing various cities, villages and regions, and shall be directly elected in accordance with to a system for which a decree is issued. The Committee has sought the help of the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning and Statistics to move on whereas the names of many constituencies have been replaced with numbers for several reasons, including changing the names of some areas and the inclusion of the single constituency for more than one area.

Accordingly many changes had undergone in the coming election. Al Jasra, Bin Imran, Madina Khalifa, Muaither and Al Rayyan constituencies have been merged due to the depopulation of some areas. The committee found out that some villages have been merged with nearby cities despite of the differences in needs and lack of representation due to the density of the nearby cities.

Thereby the constituencies were modified as they include the villages Al Kaaban, Al Ghariya, Fuwairit, Rawdat Rashed, Umm Zubarah West, Umm Zubarah East, Rawdat Shamim, Al Sahla, Wadi al Jamal, Umm Weshah, Karaana, Umm Houta, Amiriyya, Jaryan and Al Batna as many constituencies have been modified and restructured.

He urged all the citizens who are eligible to vote to register in the voters’ list as the registration processes will start in January. Brig. Abdul Rahman al Maliki said that the Information System Department had a key role in the preparatory works of the election. The Department is prepared to open a link in the website of Interior Ministry through which citizens can avail all details of the elections including constituencies, registration and candidates. This link will be activated within one week whereas the citizens can identify their constituency by entering building number or electricity number.

http://www.moi.gov.qa/site/english/news/2014/09/28/32887.html

Col. Abdullah Khalifa al Muftah said that Interior Ministry would do its best to ensure the participation of all citizens including men and women since the online page would be open in the midst of October. He urged all citizens to be actively involved in the election campaigns as it is a constitutional right for all stipulated by the law.