Posted on 12/01/2005 5:19:05 AM PST by F14 Pilot
The United Arab Emirates will hold its first limited elections for half of its consultative National Council, part of a move towards reform, the Gulf Arab country's president said on Thursday.
"In light of the changes and reforms our region is witnessing ... we decided to begin activating the National Assembly by electing half of its members," Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nayahan said in a speech to mark the UAE's national day.
The speech, carried on state news agency WAM, gave no date for the election to the council, whose 40 members are currently all appointed by the seven semi-autonomous emirates that make up the U.S.-allied UAE.
A UAE official who declined to be named said only a total of 2,000 UAE nationals from the seven emirates would vote through councils set up in each emirate.
"This is a first step for the start of a gradual process towards much wider participation in the near future," the official said.
UAE citizens are a small minority in the oil producer which has a population of 4 million.
Although there is no political dissent or Islamist violence in the UAE, it is the only country without elected bodies in the mainly conservative Gulf region after Saudi Arabia held municipal elections earlier this year.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
Damm... someone who can read the writing on the wall....
those people living in UAE dont care if it is like a dictatorship or not!
The Domino Effect?
What is this, number two or three falling in line?
You're probably right, but I'm betting that more than a few of them are watching Iraq and musing how well they'd do in a democracy, with fewer leashes on capitalism.
Bush's Fault!
(Man you guys are getting slow!)
Another small, but very important step towards changing the face of the Middle East, which is the direct result of our liberation and democratization of Iraq.
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