Parliamentary elections were held in the United Arab Emirates on 7 October 2023 to elect 20 of the 40 members of the Federal National Council.[1][2][3] As political parties are banned in the UAE, all candidates run as independents.[4] The election was the first to be conducted completely electronically, 92.69% of voters chose to vote remotely in the election cycle.[2][3]
Electoral system
The Federal National Council consists of 40 members, 20 of whom are appointed by the rulers of each emirate.[5][6] and 20 are elected by single non-transferable vote in seven electoral colleges based on the emirates. The colleges of Abu Dhabi and Dubai elect four members each, the colleges of Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah three each, and the colleges of Ajman, Fujairah and Umm al-Quwain two each.[7][8] Since the 2019 election, the FNC has a gender quota, requiring 50% of FNC members to be women.[4]
Not all citizens are eligible to vote. Instead, voters are handpicked and chosen through an electoral college, the membership of which was expanded from 337,738 in 2019 to 398,879 in 2023.[9][10]
Results
Preliminary results were released on 7 October, and certified on 13 October.[8] The national election committees of all emirates, except the committees of Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah, allocated half of their elected seats to the highest voted for candidates of each gender to meet their gender quotas; the appointed seats for each emirate need to ultimately achieve the quota.
Elected members
Voter turnout
By emirate
By gender
References
- ^ "Federal National Council elections to take place on October 7". The National. 2023-07-10. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
- ^ a b "Early voting opens in UAE parliamentary elections". Middle East Monitor. 2023-10-04. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
- ^ a b Amir, Salam Al (2023-10-08). "Early results of Federal National Council election announced". The National. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
- ^ a b Abbas, Waheed. "UAE elections: All you need to know about FNC polls in 2023". Khaleej Times. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
- ^ "A vote for the country's future". Gulf News. 25 September 2011.
- ^ "About the Federal National Council". Khaleej Times. 4 July 2011. Archived from the original on 6 July 2015.
- ^ Electoral system IPU
- ^ a b Federal National Council elections: how to vote The National, 30 September 2019
- ^ FNC candidate registration centres launched Gulf News, 7 August 2019
- ^ "Federal National Council elections to take place on October 7". The National. 2023-07-10.
- ^ "National Election Committee announces electoral college lists for FNC elections 2023". Emirates News Agency. 2023-08-07. For gender electoral college breakdown (exact numbers in images (in Arabic)). Retrieved 2023-11-01.
- ^ "إعلان نتائج انتخابات المجلس الوطني الاتحادي 2023" [Announcement of Federal National Council Election Results 2023] (video). youtube.com (in Arabic). Emirates News Agency. at 0:48 (for election turnout gender demographics). Retrieved 1 November 2023.
