Doha - Crossing yet another milestone in the democratic evolution of Qatar, thousands of Qatari men and women voted yesterday to elect their representatives to the third session of the Central Municipal Council (CMC).
Though the voter turnout was not up to the mark in some constituencies, the elections have unmistakably prove that the voters have become more matured over the years in exercising their constitutional right.
The polling that started early morning went on smoothly in all the 29 constituencies until 5pm, when the ballot boxes were sealed. A total of 118 candidates were in the fray, including three women, while the number of registered eligible voters were 28,153. The elections saw an increase in the number of voters as well as candidates compared to the two previous sessions.
Government and Independent Schools in various localities were turned into polling stations and a team of trained volunteers were deployed to assist and guide the voters. Separate ballot boxes for men and women were installed in all the constituencies. Voters dropping their ballots in boxes.
Almost all centres saw a good turnout of women voters, while in some constituencies, like the Old Airport, the number of registered voters were higher among women. The Old Airport constituency, where a prominent woman candidate, Shaikha Al Jefairi, was seeking reelection, had 740 female voters and 711 male voters.
Women volunteers as well as women security personnel were deployed in all the constituencies to exclusively look afterwomen voters.
The polling that started on a low pace picked up gradually as the day ripened. A few polling centres saw a tremendous rush between 9am and 12noon, as more people turned up to cast their ballots.
At a polling station in Al Wakrah, the officials were forced to call in police to control the crowd, who thronged the ballot room at around 10am. People were then asked to wait outside the hall, until they were called in by the polling officials, one by one.
A number of aged voters also turned up at this station, who came in wheel chairs and on walking sticks, accompanied by relatives.
Each voter was given a special identity card, which he or she was required to produce before the polling officials, along with his Qatari ID card.
Those who were holding these two cards were allowed to go directly to the polling counter, where their personal details were cross-checked and the ballot papers were provided. Those who didn't collect the voter cards in advance were given them on the spot, after cross-checking their personal details with the voters' list available at each polling station.
"The voter cards were available at all the polling stations one week before the elections, but only a few people bothered to come and collect them, despite the media advertisements," an officer at the South Medinat Khalifa polling station told The Peninsula.
The candidates were seen camping in their respective stations through out the day, observing the polling process. Some of them had pitched tents near polling stations, as part of the election campaign. These tents were decorated with banners and posters carrying the names and pictures of the candidate.
Many voters whom The Peninsula met yesterday felt that the election was an important step towards achieving a democratic system in Qatar.
"Gone are the days when people voted for members of their family or tribe. Now the voters are more critical and they are looking at the qualifications of the candidate and whether they are capable of doing some good job in their constituency," said Ali Moosa Eisa, a voter from Old Airport.
Despite the fact CMC members have been bestowed with limited powers, they can still do many things for their constituency by putting pressure on the authorities.
"I have voted for the candidate whom I thought is capable of taking my constituency to further development from where it stands now," he added.
A young voter named Ali, who is a student of the Academic Bridge Programme at the Education City said, he has reached 18 years recently and this was his first vote in the CMC elections. He was accompanied by his father Ali Al Khalafi, who was a fan of Shaikha Al Jefairi.
Jefairi's aged mother had also turned up to vote in a wheel chair at the same station. " I came to vote for my daughter and I wish her success," she said.
© The Peninsula 2007
