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UAE takes step toward organizing indirect polls

ABU DHABI - The president of the United Arab Emirates has established a National Elections Committee to oversee indirect polls to an advisory council expected to be held later this year, the state WAM news agency reported on Tuesday.

“The National Elections Committee formed by the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan is the body assigned to supervise the upcoming elections which I expect to take place before the end of the year,” WAM quoted the head of the committee, Anwar Mohammad Gargash, as saying.

Gargash, who serves as state minister for Federal National Council (FNC) affairs, is assisted on the committee by the ministers of justice, health and culture and other officials, who will be joined by two “public figures.”

ShAikh Khalifa announced last December plans to elect half the 40 members of the FNC, an advisory body, in the first such polls in the oil-rich UAE, as a step toward political reform.

All FNC members are currently appointed by the rulers of the seven emirates making up the UAE.

A presidential decree said the National Elections Committee will set the date of the polls in each emirate, supervise the vote, announce results within three days and settle election disputes.