Women's gains in civic body polls limited to three-time winner

Manama: Only one of the four women who contested Qatar's quadrennial municipal elections won a mandate in yet another reminder of the formidable challenge before women's political empowerment programmes. Shaikha Al Jefairi retained her Old Airport seat in the nationwide election of a 29-member Central Municipal Council (CMC) that saw only 13,606 out of 32,662 registered voters turn up to cast their ballots.

According to the results, 12 new councillors were elected while 17 sitting members were re-elected in the country's fourth municipal elections.

However, the low voter turnout of 43.3 per cent seemed to have shocked election officials who said that they would look for answers, Qatari daily The Peninsula reported yesterday.

Some candidates said the hot weather could have been one reason for the poor voter turnout while others pointed out that the government should have declared a holiday.

"Not many voters turned out since they had to go to work," one candidate was quoted as saying by the daily.

Shaikha Al Jefairi will continue to be the lone female member of the male-dominated council for the third consecutive term after she retained her Old Airport seat with a thumping majority, polling the highest number of votes, 803. Her debut was in 2003 when she was elected unopposed from the same constituency.

This time, though, she had a challenger. Fatima Al Kuwari, her rival, however, was able to garner just 62 votes.

Poll officials said Al Jefairi retained her seat "thanks to the immense trust of voters in her capacity".

Announcing the results at the city police headquarters, poll officials said that, in at least eight of the 29 constituencies, women voters had outnumbered men.

Brigadier-General Majid Ebrahim Al Khulaifi, head of the election supervising committee, told reporters on Tuesday evening that the announcement of the results was slightly delayed by the counting in Maither constituency which took longer than expected due to a relatively large turnout.

There was no polling in two constituencies, Al Shahaniya and Messaieed, with the candidates declared elected unopposed in both areas.

By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief, Gulf News

Published: 00:00 May 12, 2011

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