His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani the Emir of the State of Qatar

Source of the photo: www.gco.gov.qa

On August 22^th, 2021, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-THANI issued a decree that set October 2^th, 2021 as the date for the country’s first elections to elect two-thirds of its advisory Shura Council (parliament).

The Shura Council is an advisory and legislative body which discusses and approves general state policies, budgets and draft law proposals. It will also exercise control over the executive, except for bodies setting defense, security, economic and investment policy.

Shura Council was formed in 1972 with 20 appointed members but now voters will elect 30 members of the 45-seat council, while bin Hamad al-THANI will appoint the remaining 15 members.

On July 2021, Sheikh Tamim approved an electoral law that allows the Qataris to run and elect 30 of the council’s seats.

Qatar, a small but wealthy gas producer which already holds municipal polls, bans political parties like other Gulf Arab countries.

The October polls provoked some debate on electoral inclusion after some members of a tribe found themselves ineligible to vote under a law restricting voting to Qataris whose family was present in Qatar before 1930.

The electoral law that is based on a constitution approved in a 2003 referendum, could be reviewed by a new Shura Council.

This article was edited using the data from the Aljazeera.com, Aa.com.tr, Middleeastmonitor.com, Reuters.com, Arabnews.com and, Shura.qa