DOHA: Forty-two citizens including a woman filed their nominations for the forthcoming Central Municipal Council (CMC) elections on the first day of registration.
Nomination of candidates in the 29 constituencies started yesterday. Elections to the fifth session of CMC are scheduled to be held in May. The Muaither constituency received the highest number of nominations –five- followed by Bu Sidra where four citizens applied. The remaining constituencies saw two to three nominations, Al Sharq reports.
The first woman nominee was in the Mamoura constituency. Seven constituencies didn’t receive any nomination on the first day. Jassim Al Malki, CMC’s incumbent vice chairman and chairman of its services public facilities committee filed his nomination in Al Markhiya constituency.
Nomination will continue for one week to close on March 11. Aspiring candidates may file their nominations from 4pm to 7pm throughout the week, except on Friday and Saturday, the supervising committee for the elections at the Ministry of Interior said yesterday. The ministry said the nominees should comply with the terms and conditions mentioned in the election law.
The candidate should file the nomination at the respective constituency by filling in a form and presenting the ID and other supportive documents. The nominee will receive a registration slip when the person hands over the papers to the supervising committee. The candidate should have permanent residency status in the constituency concerned.
The candidate must not have been involved in any crimes. The person must be literate and should know reading and writing. He/she must be competent and honest and should not be a member of the police or armed forces.
Col Abdul Rahman Majid Al Sulaiti, a member of the Supervising committee said, the preliminary list of candidates will be announced on March 17. The committee will receive complaints and grievances from the public regarding the candidates from March 17 to March 25. The final list will be announced on April 8.
Col Abdullah Khalifa Al Mufatah, head of the media committee urged the competent citizens to nominate themselves for the elections. He said the election campaign will start after announcing the final candidates list and will continue until the date of voting. The election date will be announced through an Emiri decree. To start election campaign, the candidates are required to take official permission from the media committee and the public relations department of the Ministry of Interior. Once the permission is granted, they should get another approval from the municipality in which their constituency is located to practice different forms of campaigning.
The supervising committee has started distributing voters ID cards by post.
The Peninsula
