In its recent meeting, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) discussed the latest updates with respect to preparing for the election day which included preparing the voting centers, electronic voting system, the efforts of the media and advertisement committee for defining the electoral process and its procedures and the most important steps for disseminating all the necessary information for both voters and candidates.
Dr. Anwar Gargash said: “The National Electoral Commission’s efforts are focusing in this stage on meeting all the electoral process requirements, particularly those related to the voting centers and electronic voting system. According to the reports discussed today, we can say that all the requirements are in their final stage and the voting centers will be ready within the few coming days while all the logistic and procedural process will be completed a week before the election day.”
He added: “The NEC has provided all the means that enable the voter to exercise his/her right to vote easily and smoothly. Therefore, we hope that all voters will participate in the elections on September 24, as strong participation in the elections will be a strong message from the UAE nationals that they are interested in developing the electoral process and streamlining the role of the Federal National Council (FNC). We also hope that all the sections of the electoral colleges, particularly the youth and women, will participate in these elections.”
Gargash went on to say: “The presence of a large number of UAE women in the electoral colleges poses a challenge for them to confirm their interest in political work and present themselves strongly in this field, considering that they made great strides in all other fields and have today to participate strongly to support male or female candidates while their slogan should lie in electing the most eligible candidate for serving the country and UAE nationals. We hope that all female voters will behave in the light of the trust bestowed on them by the leadership through being represented in the electoral colleges at 46 per cent, which is equal to the natural rate they account for in the society.”
Gargash said: the UAE youth are the country’s balance and future and have a national duty in the electoral process as embodied in casting the ballots that reflect their will and interest in contributing to serving the UAE. Their significant presence in the electoral colleges is aimed at giving them the opportunity to join the political life and they have the duty of participating strongly and efficiently in the FNC elections.”
During the meeting, the NEC was briefed on a comprehensive report on the distribution of the voting centers and the facilities that were provided in them for smooth and organized implementation of the electoral process. Upon selecting the sites of the voting centers, the Election Management Committee took all the organizational issues into consideration including spacious areas and car-parks so that the voting procedures would take only a little of the voter’s time.
The NEC also discussed a report on the electronic voting system, which became finally ready with all the possible scenarios for the system’s work on the election day being taken into consideration so as to ensure that the electoral process is running smoothly as planned without any obstacles, particularly that the UAE was the first Arab country to adopt electronic voting in 2006 and made a dazzling success in this experience.
Besides, the NEC was briefed on the efforts exerted to train all the participants in the electoral process on the election day and stressed the necessity for all of them to be highly professional as this would reflect positively on the entire electoral process. It also discussed the advertising and media steps taken by the media committee to disseminate the electoral culture among the individuals of the society and stressed the importance of motivating voters to participate in the elections as this plays a major role in consolidating a making a success of this experience.
The Emirates Identity Authority was represented in the meeting by Dr. Ali Mohamed Al Khouri, Emirates ID Director General, NEC Member and Chairman of NEC’s Infrastructure Committee, Nasser Al Mazrouei, ICT Executive Director, Yousef Al Kuwaiti, Applications Director and Electronic Voting System Project Manager, and a number of Emirates Identity Authority officials.
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