SHARJAH // Nearly a third of Sharjah’s Emirati residents have registered to vote in the Sharjah Consultative Council (SCC) election.
About 25,000 people visited registration centres between December 6 and Saturday to enrol for voting or to apply to be a candidate in the election in January.
In June, Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah, announced that half of the 42-seat council would be elected by Emiratis and the rest would be appointed.
The council, established in 1999, ended its most recent term in June. Its members are responsible for making proposals on all matters referred to it by the emirate’s ruler.
According to census data, 78,457 Emiratis older than 21 are eligible to vote in Sharjah.
The elections committee said that women made up 45 per cent of the 24,952 Emiratis who registered for the election.
“We have completed the first phase of the Sharjah Consultative Council elections, laying a solid foundation for the second phase, which will finalise candidacy and involves the challenge of voting for those who deserve to be chosen to represent the people of Sharjah,” said Mansour bin Nassar, head of the supreme committee of SCC elections.
He said that 31.8 per cent of eligible Emiratis registered for the election, and Al Hamriya had the highest registration turnout of 79.6 per cent. Sharjah city had the lowest registration turnout – only 23.82 per cent of the 41,725 eligible people registered.
The large turnout in Al Hamriya was partly the result of the efforts of the local election committee members who went door-to-door to register older Emiratis. Al Hamriya, the smallest area in Sharjah, has 654 Emiratis who are eligible to vote. Five hundred and twenty-one of them registered to do so.
According to the emirate’s registration data, 60 per cent of voters are younger than 40, while citizens older than 60 make up 10 per cent of the voter registry. Forty per cent of registered voters are graduates.
Emiratis who want to run for office must be at least 25 years old, be of good standing in the community, have no criminal record and be able to read and write.
Candidacy registration will be open for three days from next Sunday.
Prospective election candidates must register in their hometowns, with registration centres open in nine municipalities in Sharjah city – Al Dhaid, Khor Fakkan, Kalba, Dibba Al Hisn, Al Hamriya, Al Batayeh, Mleiha and Al Madam.
Before the registration window closed last Thursday, the election committee extended the deadline after citizens called for an extension over the weekend to enable those working outside the emirate and those who could not take leave from their work to be able to register.
The list of new council members will be announced on February 11.
tzriqat@thenational.ae
