ABU DHABI, 19 December 2006 — Phase two of the UAE’s national council elections took place yesterday with no women winning any of the seats.

Official results showed male candidates won the four Federal National Council (FNC) seats up for grabs in the bustling emirate of Dubai and the three on offer in Ras Al-Khaimah to the north.

The winners in Dubai were Jamal Al-Hai, Khaled ibn Zayed, Sultan Al-Suwaidi and Husain Al-Shaafar.

“I will work hard and rise up to the responsibility of representing those who voted for me,” Al-Hai told Arab News after his victory was announced.

Women failed to make new gains in the second stage of the country’s first-ever national polls. None of 15 female candidates in Dubai, the most liberal emirate in the seven-member UAE, won a mandate, nor did any of their three counterparts in Ras Al-Khaimah.

Amal Abdullah Al-Qubaisi, a British-educated architect, made history on Saturday by becoming the first woman to be voted onto the FNC.

She clinched one of four contested seats in Abu Dhabi in the first phase of the elections.

Due to the strong participation of women candidates, observers had speculated that at least two women would win seats in Dubai.

Many of the women contenders said they were disappointed when the results were announced. One of them blamed women for the loss saying that they did not support each other. Sumaiya Sajwani, who works as an auditor at the Dubai Municipality, said that women had not worked together to have at least one candidate chosen. Sajwani, who was one of the candidates in Dubai, said that women should learn from this experience.

In Dubai, 1,520 people were eligible to choose from a field of 77 candidates to fill four seats on the FNC.

Members of an electoral college appointed by the local ruler also voted in Ras Al-Khaimah, with a total of 1,061 people eligible to choose three representatives from among 80 candidates.

Officials put turnout at 71 percent in Dubai and 79 percent in Ras Al-Khaimah.

The three-stage elections to fill half of the FNC’s 40 seats began in Abu Dhabi and the smaller emirate of Fujairah Saturday.

Voting will conclude in the emirates of Ajman, Sharjah and Umm Al-Qaiwain tomorrow. A total of 438 candidates, including 63 women, are standing.

The FNC is the UAE’s advisory council, formed under the Provisional Constitution of the United Arab Emirates in 1971 as a permanent component of the country’s governing structure, which also includes the Supreme Council, President, Cabinet and Judiciary.

— With input from agencies

The council is composed of 40 members: eight from Abu Dhabi and Dubai; six from Sharjah and Ras Al-Khaimah; and four from Ajman, Umm Al-Quwain and Fujairah.

The members of the electoral college will now elect 20 members. The leaders in each emirate will nominate the other 20.

Speaking at a press conference, Anwar Gargash, minister of FNC Affairs, described the process so far as “enthusiastic and very encouraging.”