Qataris head to polls for referendum on draft constitutional changes

Qataris are taking part in the second referendum in the country's history, where they will be able to vote "yes" or "no" to draft constitutional amendments unanimously approved by the country's Shura Council last month.

The draft amendments to Qatar's permanent constitution include returning to appointing Shura Council members instead of electing them, as well as some measures to promote wider political participation among Qatari citizens.

These amendments were referred for popular referendum by Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, who issued a decree on 29 October inviting all adult citizens to take part.

Citizens inside and outside the country over the age of 18 will be able to cast their vote between 7am and 7pm today by way of paper ballot at 10 designated polling boxes, or electronically by attending one of the announced polling locations in person and displaying their Qatari ID.

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

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

The altered text would remove the election of 30 out of the 45 members by "secret ballot" and stipulate that all 45 members are appointed by Emiri decree.

The Shura Council, (also known as the Consultative Assembly) which is Qatar's legislative body, contains 45 members who, prior to the first ever Shura Council elections in October 2021, were all appointed by Emiri decree.

The proposed draft amendment will see a return to this system, after 2021's elections sparked rare tribal tensions in Qatar with some members of a main Bedouin tribe finding themselves ineligible to vote. 

Another proposed change is to Article (80), where the redraft stipulates that Qatari citizens aged under-30 can stand for appointment to the Shura Council, whereas before appointees were required to be over-30.

One further 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 couldn't be naturalised citizens.

According to Qatar's General Referendum Committee, after the vote ends today, the vote count will begin, with final results expected within 24 hours. 

In light of the referendum, Qatar's Council of Ministers have 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 a holiday on Tuesday for all public and private schools in Qatar, including academic and administrative staff, in order to facilitate the participation of citizens aged 18 and over.

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

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