2015 Emirati parliamentary election

3 October 2015
20 of the 40 seats in the Federal National Council
Turnout	35.29% ( 7.54pp)
Party Seats +/– Independents 20 0 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Speaker before Speaker after Mohammad Al Murr Independent Amal Al Qubaisi Independent

Parliamentary elections were held in the United Arab Emirates on 3 October 2015 to elect 20 of the 40 members of the Federal National Council. The elections took place through an electoral college, which was expanded from 129,274 members in the 2011 elections to 224,279 for the 2015 elections.^[1]

Electoral system

At the time of the elections, the 40-member Federal National Council had 20 indirectly-elected members and 20 appointed members. The 20 elected members were elected by seven electoral colleges; the colleges of Abu Dhabi and Dubai elected four members, the colleges of Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah elected three, and the colleges of Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain elected two.^[2] Only around a third of Emirati citizens (who themselves are around 12% of the country's population) were members of the electoral colleges.^[3]

Following changes to the electoral system, the elections were held using single non-transferable vote, meaning voters could only vote for one candidate in their emirate, irrespective of the number of seats.^[2] Overseas voting was allowed for the first time.^[4]

On election day, 36 voting centers were opened nationwide, nine of which had opened for early voting on 28–30 September. Overseas voters were able to cast their vote for the first time in 94 voting centers in UAE embassies on 20–21 September.^[5] Overall 79,157 voters cast their vote, making a turnout of 35.29%.^[6]

Campaign

A total of 330 candidates contested the elections, of which 252 were men and 78 women.^[7] Campaigning was allowed between 6 and 30 September.^[8]

Results

Of the twenty elected members, 19 were men and only one woman,^[9] Naama Al Sharhan, who was elected in Ras Al Khaimah. Voter turnout was 35.29%, up from 27.75% in the 2011 elections, and ranged from 70% in Umm Al Quwain to 22.1% in Dubai.^[10]

References