674 candidates registered for Oman elections

Fuente: 
Gulf News
Fecha de publicación: 
15 Jul 2015

Muscat: The final lists of candidates for Oman’s elected Shura Council for the next election showed a large turnout of candidates aged between 30-44 years old as well as a growing awareness of electoral participation. The final lists revealed that 674 candidates are vying to win 85 seats for the coming election. Salalah province topped other provinces in the number of the candidates fielded, with 28 candidates, followed by Ibri and Nizwa provinces, with 25 candidates. The age group of 30-44 years formed the largest group of candidates, with 432 candidates, constituting 64 per cent of the total number of candidates. As for educational qualifications, the General Education Diploma (secondary school) certificates holders accounted for 38.1 per cent, while the number of the holders of bachelor’s degrees stood at 36.6 per cent. 2.8 per cent of the candidates have PhDs.

Candidates for the next election have started their campaigns for the next election nationwide. Observers expect a huge turnout of voters as 750 new voters have registered to vote this year. The Ministry of Interior last June blacklisted a number of candidates for the next election. Among those banned from running are current members including Salim Al Awfi, Humaid Al Nasri and Salim Al Mashani. Khalid Bin Hilal Al Busaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior, Chairman of the Main Committee for Majlis Al Shura elections to the Shura Council, said that the Ministry of Interior and the Main Committee had followed the interaction of a number of nationals since the announcement of the preliminary lists of candidates for membership of the Council.

Al Busaidi said that he was surprised that some candidates had spread inaccurate and exaggerated information. He said 174 applications for the nominations were ruled out, in addition to one withdrawal case and one death. Al Busaidi said that most of the applications that did not meet the requirements were due to involvement in a felony or crime involving moral turpitude — 45 per cent of the total rejected applications. Another 23 per cent of the applicants had not applied in the specific time frame of the electoral register, while another 9 per cent didn’t have a General Education Diploma.

Article 58 of the Omani Basic Law stipulates that a candidate of Majlis Al Shura should be an Omani national by birth, be of at least 30 years of age, never sentenced to a felony or crime involving moral turpitude or trust. It also stipulates that the candidate should be on the electoral role, not affiliated to a security or military authority, not interdicted by a judicial judgement, and not suffering from mental illness.

Seminars and conferences have been conducted to identify citizens who wish to run for the next elections as well as informing nationals about the importance of participating in these elections. All the Omani governorates witnessed a huge turnout after 857 nationals applied as candidates. Among those are 21 women. Only one woman succeeded in winning a seat in the 84-member council in the last elections in 2011.

The Omani Shura Council was established in 1991 to replace the Consultative State Council, which lasted from 1981 until 1991. Majlis Al Shura is the lower house of the council of Oman and has enjoyed some legislative and regulatory powers since 2011. Consultative Council members are elected from all the provinces of Oman. Each province with a population of more than 30,000 elects two members, while a province with less than 30,000 elects one. Observers believe that parliamentary work in Oman faces challenges and problems as it is still in the growth and development phase and needs more time. Shura and democracy in Oman came in response to Omani society itself and not in response to factors or external pressure as in other countries, says Ahmad Al Marjibi, a parliamentary expert.

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