DUBAI, 25 February 2005 — Academics and members of the appointed consultative council in the United Arab Emirates came out yesterday in favor of elections in the country, arguing that it could not stay out of the regional trend toward elected bodies.

When millions of Arabs in Palestine, Iraq and Saudi Arabia have gone to the polls, the UAE cannot continue to lag behind, Professor Abdul Khaleq Abdullah of the UAE University told Khaleej Times.

“I strongly support the idea of having elected members” in the Federal National Council (FNC), said Khalifa Jumma Al-Naboda, who sits on the 40-strong FNC, which is appointed by the rulers of the seven emirates making up the UAE.

Fellow member Muhammad ibn Ali Al-Nagbi told the same newspaper he would support elections as long as they were decided from within and were not imposed by external pressure.

Atiq Daka, a professor of political science at the UAE University, said: “Our country is now the only member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) which has yet to catch up with the political opening up under way in the Arab world. Even countries we thought incapable of political change are now ahead of us.”

The GCC groups the UAE with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Bahrain and Kuwait have elected Parliaments, while Oman has an elected advisory council.

And earlier this month, Saudi Arabia kicked off local polls in which half the members of 178 municipal councils will be elected across the Kingdom.

“We are certainly ahead (of other countries in the region) at the economic and trade levels. But we should also lead the way on the political front,” Daka said.

“How come that we encouraged Iraqis to take part in elections and hosted Iraqi elections on our soil while even officials of sports clubs in our country are appointed?” Daka asked.

The UAE was one of 14 countries where Iraqi expatriates were able to take part in their country’s landmark elections last month through an out-of-country voting program organized by the International Organization for Migration.

“We need not just municipal and legislative elections, but also transparency in terms of freedom of expression and total independence of the judiciary,” said Abdullah Shamsi, also a political science professor.