Abu Dhabi: Emiratis eligible to vote will cast their ballots from Monday through Wednesday at nine voting stations across the country in the first early voting since the election experience started in 2006, officials said on Saturday.
The third Federal National Council’s election will boost the UAE’s parliamentary experience and its success achieved in the previous editions through providing all resources and efficient management necessary to achieve this goal, in keeping with the country’s leadership to enhance parliamentary life as part of the political empowerment programme of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Dr Anwar Mohammad Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Minister of State for FNC Affairs and Head of the National Election Committee, said.
Early voting will start at nine polling centres across the country at 10am and end at 6pm.
Voting will be carried out electronically during the period of early voting from September 28-30 as well as on Election Day on October 3.
The electoral base for this year’s elections has been expanded to more than 224,000 to ensure larger public participation.
The NEC said that Emirates ID, the certified personal identification issued by the Emirates Identity Authority, is required to use the e-voting system. Voters can vote in two ways — either by directly entering a candidate’s number or by simply clicking on the candidate’s photograph.
The voter is then required to confirm the process, during which time the voter is allowed to modify the vote in case of an error in selecting the candidate or if the information entered was incorrect.
The NEC has urged all citizens to confirm their names in the voters’ list by visiting the NEC’s website, www.uaenec.ae, or by contacting its dedicated call centre on 600500005 in order to ensure they are able to exercise their voting right on Election Day.
A total of 329 FNC candidates are currently campaigning. The campaigning period will run until September 30, followed by the election on October 3.
The final list of candidates comprises 89 candidates from Abu Dhabi, 60 candidates from Dubai, 61 from Sharjah, 40 from Ras Al Khaimah, 23 from Ajman, 20 from Umm Al Quwain, and 36 from Fujairah.
Voters can cast their votes using the following steps: Step (1): Voters proceed to the voting booth, where he or she must enter their national identity card into the voting machine’s card reader.
Step 2 Voters have to then hit ‘Click here’ on the touchscreens.
Step 3: The touchscreen system identifies the voter’s emirate and displays the candidates who are running in the emirate. There are two different options voters can resort to when selecting a candidate:
Method one: Enter your preferred candidate’s voting number
Method two: Click on your preferred candidate’s photo. Voters can also click ‘Back’ or ‘Next’ to navigate through the list of candidates
Step 4: A page will pop up with the candidate’s image and number. Voters will be asked to hit ‘Confirm’ or ‘Change vote’.
Step 5: Voters have to take out their National ID cards from the machine as soon as they see a message on the screen stating that their voting has been completed successfully.
Box
Nine early voting polling stations
Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre
Western Region: Madinat Zayed Ballroom
Al Ain: Al Ain Convention Centre — Al Khubaisi
Dubai: Dubai World Trade Centre
Sharjah: Sharjah Chess Club — Al Theed Street — near American University of Sharjah
Ajman: Social Services Building — Ministry of Social Affairs in Al Jurf
Umm Al Quwain: Shaikh Khalifa Ballroom
Ras Al Khaimah: Higher Colleges of Technology for Women
Fujairah: Exhibition Centre
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