In talking of their fears about the Qatari Shura Council, some people cite the example of Kuwait’s National Assembly and the political deadlock between the legislative and executive in Kuwait. They even hold the parliament in Kuwait responsible for slowing down development in that country. This is why these people vehemently say that Qatar should not follow in the footsteps of Kuwait, lest it meet the same fate.
Although only simple-minded people will buy this argument, it is important to analyze it because those who cite Kuwait’s example in this regard may be either having vested interests or may not have read Qatar’s constitution. They would not have read about the formation of this council or its mandate. This makes it difficult to compare the Qatari Shura Council with the Kuwaiti National Assembly.
The Kuwaiti National Assembly is made up of 50 elected members. Ministers are members of the assembly. The percentage of these ministers in the assembly does not stand in the way of forming the required majority for passing important legislation or a no confidence vote against a minister.
The Qatari Shura Council, however, is made up of 45 members: 30 elected and 15 appointed by the Emir. The Emir also has the authority to ask these members to quit.
The appointed members hinder work in the Shura Council. They can even hinder it from effectively playing its role because a two-thirds majority is needed for the council to take decisions or pass legislation.
The difference between Kuwait’s parliament and Qatar’s Shura Council is not limited to their strengths, it is wider in their respective mandates.
When it comes to scrutinizing the work of the government, for example, the Qatari Shura Council does not have the power to question the prime minister. The council cannot call for non-cooperation with the prime minister either. The Kuwaiti National Assembly, on the contrary, can do these things.
The Qatari Shura Council cannot raise the issue of questioning a minister without approval from one-third of the members. In Kuwait, however, any member of the National Assembly can question a minister (refer to Article 100 of Kuwait’s constitution).
In Qatar, members of the Shura Council cannot have a vote of no confidence against any minister unless two-thirds of the members approve of this. This is actually an impossible majority because of the presence of appointed members in the council.
This is not the case in Kuwait. Only a simple majority of the elected members is needed for a vote of no confidence against a minister to take place. This means the votes of appointed National Assembly members are not needed to approve such a move (read Article 101 of the Kuwaiti constitution). This majority is easy to achieve.
For these reasons I say to those who refer to the Kuwaiti model and express fears that an elected Qatari Shura Council will lead to clashes and political tensions that they should not panic because the people who drafted Qatar’s constitution have saved you these worries.
But this does not mean we should not call for an elected Shura Council, despite the limited role it would play. Without doubt an elected council will be better than the current appointed one. The people will elect two-thirds of the members of the council. The elected members will get the power to do their work in the council from the people. They will not be beholden to the one who appoints them.
The membership of these people in the council will also be limited to four years, which will come to an end upon the holding of elections that can infuse new blood into the council. This new blood will bring new hopes, ideas, and visions that better suit their times.
An elected Shura Council will be different from the appointed council where members serve for indefinite periods during which their effectiveness and enthusiasm wane and even vanish.
Unlike the elected council, the appointed one does not have the power to question a minister or hold a no confidence vote against a minister. It does not have the power to suggest laws. It cannot review the general budget in detail. This is why an elected council will be considerably better than the appointed council. It will be a step on the way to empowerment of the Shura Council until it enjoys wider parliamentary powers.
Moreover, holding of elections, the atmosphere these elections will create, the publicity the sessions of the Shura Council will get and the presence of elected council members will surely have a positive impact on freedom of speech in our country. These things will stir the stagnant waters of supervision and opacity a bit.
Those who use the situation in Kuwait as an excuse for hampering public participation in governance by calling for postponement of Shura Council elections must realise that they are harming our credibility. On November 1, 2011, the Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani delivered his annual speech at the inauguration of the Shura Council session. The Emir said, “I announce from this podium that we have decided that the Shura Council elections be held in the second half of the year 2013. We realise that these steps are important for the building of the modern Qatari state and also the Qatari citizen who is able to face the challenges of this age and build his country. We are full of confidence that you will be up to this responsibility”.
Calls for keeping things as they are and distrusting the Qatari people contradict the beliefs of the Emir. The Emir expressed these beliefs in the aforementioned speech as well as in several other speeches that we mentioned in an earlier article.
In this regard we can mention the Emir’s speech a few days ago at the Doha Forum, which was held under the theme “Enriching the Middle East’s Economic Future”, on May 20, 2013.
The Emir said, “I am full of confidence that those who oppose reform and change and do not realise the facts of our age, and the needs of modern societies, will change by the necessities of history and the movement of time”. It seemed as if the Emir was addressing those who want to keep things as they are.
On the other hand, the fact that legislation related to the Shura Council is not complete yet should not be taken as a reason for postponing the elections. Local newspapers told us a year ago (on June 7, 2012) that the Cabinet had agreed, during a weekly meeting, to take the necessary measures to issue a bill on the Shura Council election system. The Shura Council had already approved this system four years ago (on May 19, 2008).
The Cabinet also approved during the same meeting, held on June 6, 2012, a decree deciding the constituencies and the number of members from each constituency. The Cabinet also approved a decision by the Emir to create a committee that will be responsible for voters’ addresses. The decision defines the mandate and means of dealing with this committee. It also approved a decision by the Minster of Interior on voting at Qatari embassies in other countries.
The aforementioned decisions and bills were approved a year ago. So there is no excuse for postponing the elections or extending the term of the current Shura Council.
