UAE : Limited democracy, fears of corruption restrain voters

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), an oil-rich economic hub, is gearing up for the parliamentary elections, for the second time in its history. But fear of corruption and tepid public interest threaten to turn the country's limited experiment with democracy into a dud.

Some 470 people from the confederation’s seven emirates have registered as candidates for the September 24 elections. They will be vying for half of the 40 seats in the country's Federal National Council (FNC), with the other half being filled by members appointed by the UAE’s seven hereditary rulers. Established in 1971, the FNC maintains only advisory tasks, not legislative power.



"There is a widespread perception that the FNC is a meaningless talking shop with real political power lying elsewhere," Kristian Coates-Ulrichsen, deputy director of the Kuwait Research Program at the London School of Economics (LSE), told The Media Line.

The outbreak of the Arab Spring generated new pressures for political participation in the Gulf, and the UAE was no exception, Coates-Ulrichsen said. A petition signed by 133 prominent Emiratis in March called for the direct election of all FNC members and for it to be vested with full legislative and regulatory powers. Alongside the outbreak of violent unrest in Bahrain and Oman, and similar petitions for political reform in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, UAE authorities were feeling the heat of political pressure, perhaps for the first time in its 40-year history.

Not only does the FNC have very limited powers and is half appointed, only a small proportion of Emirati citizens will be allowed to vote, all of which may explain the widespread apathy. In the previous elections, held in December 2006, only 6,689 people, less than 1% of the country's population of one million, were entitled to vote. Moreover, the candidates will be vetted by government before the end of August, having to present a certificate of good conduct.

"Such a tightly controlled election runs counter to of the concept of participatory democracy and suggests that the election is more a public relations campaign for Western consumption than a genuine attempt at widening the distribution of power in the Emirates," Coates-Ulrichsen said.

A number of unnamed candidates told the Arab online news site Ilaf that some of the voters they met demanded money in return for voting for them. The candidates told the site that no legal mechanism currently exists to prevent vote buying.



Nor have elections brought any improvement in freedom of expression. To the contrary, human rights activists say the Arab Spring has caused officials to quash what little dissent was permitted. In April, for instance, they arrested five of the pro-reform activists who demanded constitutional reform and universal suffrage.

Coates-Ulrichsen of LSE said the intimidation of reformists in the UAE was also detrimental to the country's democratic drive.

"The arrest and continuing detention of Emiratis who called for political reform has had a chilling effect which dampens many people's desire to get involved in politics," he told The Media Line.