Dubai: Dr Anwar Mohammad Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Minister of State for FNC Affairs and Chairman of the National Election Committee (NEC), said the leadership is committed to develop the nation's participation in decision-making processes and would look into ways to boost the performance of the Federal Nation Council even further after the elections.
Speaking to Gulf News, Dr Gargash said there are various options in this regard and they include giving the FNC more powers or expanding the base of the electoral college or introducing elected councils in different emirates.
Each of these options entails constitutional changes.
Federal concession
Dr Gargash said the expansion of the FNC's mandate has to be done with a federal concession.
He said the UAE is a federation with a constitution governing the relations of the emirates with each other and with the federal entity. The FNC is one of the federal bodies and any development of its role must be reflected in the federal constitution, he said.
He said the recent expansion of the electoral college from about 6,700 members to about 130,000 was a great leap in democratising the UAE society.
The current electoral college represents 30 per cent of the total 430,000 people over 21 years of age, who are eligible to vote as per the constitution. As chairman of the NEC, Dr Gargash admitted that some of the candidates have come up with programmes that were beyond their mandate as hopeful members of the FNC.
"If the turnout is low, the message will be that the FNC election is important but not a priority. I am sure the level of participation will decide the speed of the development of the election programme in the future," he said.
