With the election campaign for the Shura Council is nearing its end, the women candidates seem very confident to secure seats as since the beginning of election campaign only two women have withdrawn, compared to the withdrawal of 53 male candidates.
After the withdrawal of these candidates, 229 candidates including 26 women are now vying for 30 seats from as many constituencies. Most of the women candidates — five— are in the Constituency No. 22.
Getting elected to the Shura Council is a great opportunity for Qatari women to propose amendments in some laws and to enact laws that protect women’s rights more and give them increased partnership in decision-making.
“It is an opportunity for women to be represented in legislative bodies. Qatari women entered the elections with great conviction and readiness that they want to serve society as a whole and women in particular,” said Al Maha Jassim Al Majed, candidate of Constituency No 11.
Talking to The Peninsula, Al Majed said that there are many demands that women candidates seek to achieve and the elected Shura Council is an opportunity to represent women and raise their issues more. “We want to be represented more in the upcoming Shura Council not like before,” she said.
“I have an important point in my electoral programme that concerns women, which is the demand for a quota for women in the Legislative and Executive Council,” she stressed. For her part, Fatma Ahmed Al Kuwari, another candidate from the Constituency No. 22 , said: “As we can see from voters support, we have a good chance of winning.”
About her electoral programme including the subjects related to women, she said that it includes home care, social security for housewives, support for Qatari female teachers, and the issuance of their own legislation.
Fatma Ghanem Muhammad Saad Al Kubaisi, another candidate from Constituency No. 25, said: “My electoral programme is based on a vision that aims to achieve comprehensive and sustainable development whose effects are positively reflected on the life of the citizens through the use of constitutional tools.”
Al Kubaisi said in a Qatar TV programme that the program is based on six pillars, including improving the legislative environment for reviewing laws and enacting new ones.
“Building a sustainable and competitive economy, which provides opportunities to create good projects because students today are educated and their ambitions are more than just a job,” she added. “It also includes administrative reform and prevention of corruption because corruption is the enemy of development and therefore it must be combated in addition to the empowerment of women and the importance of equalising them in many rights and the protection of their rights.”
