The preliminary list of candidates for Shura Council elections will be announced today while the grievances/objections will be received for three days from August 31 (tomorrow) to September 2.
About 40 women have registered their candidacy for the elections, said Brigadier Abdul Rahman Majid Al Sulaiti, Member of the Supervisory Committee for the Shura Council elections.
The total number of applicants registered for media services exceed 200, another official said.
Talking to Qatar TV yesterday Al Sulaiti said that the final list of candidates will be announced on September 15.
Al Sulaiti stressed on the prohibition of foreign funding for election campaign, as the law sets a penalty of imprisonment not more than five years and a fine of not more than QR10m or one of these two penalties, in addition to other penalties such as confiscation of the said funds, as well as re-election in case a candidate wins using those banned funds.
Captain Ibrahim Ali Al Mohannadi, Member of the Legal Committee of the Supervisory Committee for the Shura Council elections, said that spending on electoral campaigns does not exceed QR2m. He said that candidates must open a special account in national banks to spend on electoral campaigns and determine the funding sources that will be used.
“Every candidate must open a bank account for him in one of the national banks (Qatar National Bank) 24 hours before start of his electoral campaign. A candidate is not allowed to spend money outside this account on election campaign,” he said.
The official said that the sources of these funds should be either from candidate’s personal money or from donations received by the candidate from Qatari citizens only, and they should not exceed QR700,000.
There are other prohibited sources also, he explained saying: “A candidate may not receive funds from foreign or unknown sources, commercial companies, a state or foreign organisations."
“These bank accounts are subject to control by the authorities concerned, and if a candidate violates these laws, he will expose himself to punishment.”
For his part, Dr. Ghanem bin Mubarak Al Ali, Vice-Chairman of the Media Support Committee for the Shura Council elections said that more than 200 aspiring candidates registered with the committee will benefit from the media services.
He added that there is a good demand from candidates for media services and the committee is still providing services through Qatar Media Corporation (QMC) which will continue until September 10.
