This was disclosed by Lieutenant Colonel Salem Saqr Al Miraikhi, Chairman of the legal cell at the Supervisory Committee for the elections at the press conference held on Sunday to announce the election results. A 15-day period has been given to lodge complaints related to the elections, for the candidates as well as the public. A special committee will look into the complaints.
Speaking on the occasion, Major General Saad bin Jassim bin Khulaifi, Director of Public Security expressed happiness over the successful completion of the elections and lauded it as a major achievement in Qatar’s march towards democracy.
Several winning candidates have reiterated their commitment to keep the promises they gave to the voters.
Hassan Abbas from the Wakrah constituency said that he would work to make the city pollution free. Mohammed Shaheen Al Dosari from South Medinat Khalifa said, the increasing number of accommodations housing single expatriates have been causing nuisance to families in the locality and he will try to get rid of this problem.
In a closely fought contest, Mohammed Shaheen defeated Eisa Khalifa Al Kuwari, the outgoing CMC member from the constituency and Abdul Aziz Al Miraikhi, who was a debutant. There were a total of 1,665 registered voters in the constituency, including 758 women.
Abdulla Saeed Al Sulaiti, who was elected from Salata, urged the government to give more powers to CMC to make it more effective. He said he is planning to take opinions from members of his constituency to know their problems and requirements. He said, there is a need to reconstitute this area, considering its importance as a growing commercial center in the city.
Initially there were two other candidates in this constituency from the same Sulaiti family, apart from the winner- Mohammed Al Sulaiti and Khalid Sultan Al Sulaiti. Mohammed later withdrew his nomination. Interestingly the name of the locality is also linked with the name of this family. There was a fourth candidate- Dr Mohammed Al Kuwari- who also lost the election.
The highest number of voters as well as candidates were in Abu Hamour. There were 12 candidates on fray while the number of voters were 2029, including 984 women. Saeed Mohammed Saeed Al Rashid was elected from the constituency.
The high number of voters also led to some chaos during the polling in the early hours. However, the situation came under control following intervention by the polling officials. The New Ghanim was distinct with the unique number of total voters-999. Many constituencies saw a high turn out of women voters. Policewomen were deployed in all polling stations to look after the women voters.
A US team was present at the New Doha station to observe the polling, while a team from Japanese embassy watched the election in another polling station, according to Al Sharq.
Two policewomen who were on duty at the Old Airport station said their main job was to crosscheck the identity of the women, wearing a face veil. The checking was done outside the polling room, because these women were shy or reluctant to lift the face veil, in the presence of men.
This constituency had more women voters compared to women and had a distinction of electing a woman candidate with a record majority.
