qataris participate in the second referendum in the country’s history, where they will be able to vote “yes” or “no” to the draft constitutional amendments approved unanimously by the country Shura Council last month.

The draft amendments to from qatar The permanent constitution includes reappointing members of the Shura Council rather than electing them, as well as some measures to promote broader political participation among qatari citizens.

These amendments were put to a popular referendum by Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani of Qatar, who issued a decree on October 29 inviting all adult citizens to participate.

Citizens over 18 years of age, inside and outside the country, will be able to cast their vote today between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. by ballot in 10 designated ballot boxes, or electronically by attending in person at one of the announced voting locations and showing his Qatari passport. ID.

They will also be able to vote remotely using the Metrash2 application.

He proposed constitutional amendments approved by the Shura Council would entail changes to several articles, including article (77), which concerns the election of council members.

The amended text would eliminate the election of 30 of the 45 members by “secret ballot” and would stipulate that all 45 members be appointed by decree of the Emiri.

The Shura Council (also known as the Consultative Assembly), which is the legislative body of Qatar, is composed of 45 members who, before the first Shura Council elections in October 2021They were all appointed by decree of the Emiri.

The proposed amendment bill will see a return to this system, after the 2021 elections. provoked Rare tribal tensions in Qatar with some members of a main Bedouin tribe not eligible to vote.

Another proposed change is article (80), where the new wording stipulates that Qatari citizens under the age of 30 can apply for the Shura Council, whereas previously appointees were required to be over 30 years old.

Another significant change is the amendment to article (117), which states that only those of “Qatari nationality” can become ministers.

This changes the previous text which stated that one had to be of “original Qatari nationality”, meaning they could not be naturalized citizens.

According to Qatar’s General Referendum Committee, once voting ends today, vote counting will begin and final results are expected within 24 hours.

In light of the referendum, Qatar’s Council of Ministers granted permission to all Qatari employees to leave their workplaces early on Tuesday to allow citizens to participate.

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education announced on Tuesday a holiday for all public and private schools in Qatar, including academic and administrative staff, in order to facilitate the participation of citizens over 18 years of age.

The last referendum in which Qataris participated was to approve the then draft permanent constitution in April 2003, and the result was 96.6 percent approval.

This is a edited translation with additional reporting from our Arabic edition.