The Electoral Commission recently revealed that the maximum number of women seats to be contested during the upcoming National Assembly elections will be nine seats, compared to 11 seats for men in the UAE, including two from Abu Dhabi and two from Dubai, And one seat for Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain.

The Guide confirmed that the selection of female members of the Council will be made by a decision of their Highnesses the members of the Supreme Council Rulers of the Emirates, either by election or appointment, so that the final outcome of the composition of the Council 20 members of the men and 20 members of the women.

In detail, the Electoral Guide, issued recently by the NEC, stated that the content of Supreme Council Resolution No. 1 of 2019, which states that the representation of women in the FNC is not less than 50% of the members of the Council, means that the 17th legislative term of the Council Will see the formation of its members 20 men and 20 women.

The guide pointed out that in implementation of the decision of the Supreme Council of the Union, the decision of HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State, No. 1 of 2019, to establish mechanisms for the formation of the Federal National Council, and therefore the selection of female members of the Council will be either by election or appointment by rulers UAE, pointing out that the decision of HH the President of the State to grant the right to the Ruler's Court in each emirate to choose between the two methods (election or appointment) to ensure access to the representation of women 50% in the Council, and then the Governor's Court in each emirate to take any Of the two methods, or by election and appointment together.

According to the Guide, if the Governor chooses the method of appointment, the system of allocating seats shall not be applied through the election. In the latter case, the Governor shall determine the number of seats won by the woman through the election, To complete the 50% rate allocated to women when nominating appointed members, in accordance with the text of Article II of Article 1 of the Supreme Council of the Union No. 4 of 2006.

He explained that in accordance with His Highness's decision to raise the parliamentary representation of women, the Rulers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai can limit the maximum number of seats allocated to women through the election, while the Rulers of the rest of the emirates may determine one seat for each emirate through the election. For women's seats to be allocated for competition during the upcoming National Assembly elections, nine of the 20 seats will be parliamentary.

The Electoral Guide pointed out that according to the decision of His Highness the President of the State, women who have the highest number of women candidates will win the women's seats, while the decision to allocate women's seats will not be implemented if the results of the elections result in women winning directly the seats allocated to them.

Parliamentary achievements for women

The 16th legislative session of the Federal National Council (FNC), which ended in June, witnessed an active presence and parliamentary activity of a majority before the nine members of the Council. The number dropped to eight after Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi resigned as Minister of State Of the Federal National Council at the time, before becoming Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development.

The first women's achievements at the parliamentary level were the election of Dr. Amal Abdullah Al Qubaisi as the President of the Council to become the first Arab woman to hold the post. The Council member was elected Naama Abdullah Al-Sharhan to chair the Committee on Women and Childhood Affairs of the Arab Parliamentary Union.

During the legislative term ended, 41 members of the Federal National Council submitted 41 parliamentary questions to 18 ministers out of 226 parliamentary questions in the last four legislative sessions, which registered 18% of the total parliamentary question, according to a survey conducted by Emirates Today.

The Minister of Education, Hussain Ibrahim Al-Hammadi, was the most responsive to the questions of the council members (10 questions), the second was the Minister of Community Development, Hessa bint Isa Buhamid (6 questions) and the Minister of Health and Community Protection State for Federal National Council Affairs, Abdulrahman Al Owais, and Minister of Economy, Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri.

During the 23 sessions of the Council's 70 sessions, the women's questions were addressed by 23 members. The member was soft, Abdullah Al-Sharhan, at the forefront of the most question-oriented members, after a fierce competition with her colleague Azza Suleiman Bin Sulaiman.

Parliamentary diplomacy

Under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, President of the General Women's Union, President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, the Supreme President of the Family Development Foundation, Umm Al-Emarat "In cooperation between the Federal National Council and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a new achievement added to the efforts of the UAE parliamentary diplomacy in general, and attention to women in particular.