The new platform will allow Shura Council candidates to appear on multiple media platforms to ensure equal and fair opportunities.
The Media Support Committee for the Shura Council Elections of Qatar Media Corporation (QMC) has launched a new platform that allows candidates to appear on multiple media platforms to ensure fair and equal opportunities.
The platform aims to help candidates that wish to nominate themselves for a spot in the Shura Council to present themselves to the electoral districts through the broadcasting corporation.
The website provides a number of services such as personal photography, filming introductory videos for a candidate and their electoral programme, audio recordings, graphic design, a television interview and a radio interview.
Read also: How to register to vote in Qatar’s Shura Council elections
It also provides an introductory guide to Qatar’s laws and legislations, the Shura Council elections law, the electoral districts decree, how to exercise your electoral right, a guide to the conditions that must be met, the procedures for voter registration, and all information related to submitting objections and appeals.
The media platform falls in line with efforts to ensure equality in the upcoming elections, as it provides fair opportunities in media coverage for each candidate.
Qatar is now three months away from holding its historic Shura Council elections, the first to take place in the Gulf State following a decision by Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani that was hailed as a positive step towards representation.
Per a decision by the amir, Qatari citizens will be able to vote for a total of 30 members out of the 45 in a general ballot, with Sheikh Tamim selecting the remaining 15.
Who can run?
Candidates must be originally Qatari and aged 30 and above by the closing date of the nomination. They must also be fluent in reading and writing in Arabic.
If the first requirements are met, nominees can be registered in their electoral district and must then continue to maintain good reputation and conduct while keeping their criminal record clean.
Those who hold ministerial and military positions – state, judicial bodies, ministers of state, Central Municipal Council – cannot nominate themselves.
Candidates working at ministries or other government entities whose names are included in the final lists of candidates are given unpaid leave throughout the elections if they do not have a sufficient leave balance.
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