- DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates, so far untouched by the "Arab spring" protests, plans a sharp increase in the number of voters in elections to a largely advisory council due in September, a senior official said on Wednesday.
The elections are part of a gradual increase in popular participation in UAE politics, though both voters and candidates will be handpicked by the seven emirates rulers, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said. The number of Emiratis allowed to vote in the Sept 24. elections for the Federal National Council will jump to 80,000 from fewer than 7,000 in the 2006 election, the first one held in the UAE, Gargash said.
"The idea is not to have an experience for the elite ... We're aiming at creating something of a natural right (for all citizens), but we need to do it gradually," Gargash, who also heads the Gulf monarchy's election committee, said at a public event.
