Doha: Brigadier Salem Saqr Al Muraikhi, Vice-Chairman of the Supervisory Committee for the Shura Council Elections, has said that the election campaign for the Shura Council will not start before September 15 and that everyone should respect the relevant laws.
He added that there are many regulations that a candidate must adhere to including a candidate must not start the election campaign before the specified time and the election campaign must not contain tribal or religious biases or content that can offend other candidate.
“In case of violating these regulations, the penalties are imprisonment of no more than one year and a fine of no more than QR100,000, in addition to other penalties which may include such as banning the candidate to participate in future elections,” Al Muraikhi said, while speaking about violations of the election process regulations in a video posted on the Twitter handle of the Ministry of interior.
He added that the Supervisory Committee for the Shura Council Elections has sub-committees, having jobs of monitoring the electoral process and referring violations to the relevant committees to take impose penalties.
The Ministry of Interior will not tolerate any violating acts, especially with regard to inciting tribal, sectarian and religious hatred, he emphasised.
Brigadier Al Muraikhi explained that election campaign covers all the activities carried out by a candidate to promote himself and his election programme in order to convince the voters.
Separately in a Qatar TV programme, Ambassador Mohammed bin Ali Al Hanzab, a former member of the Shura Council, said that the elected Shura Council has many roles, including approving the budget and a legislative role represented in enacting laws as well as monitoring the performance of the government.
“All of which will have positive results in creating an appropriate legislative environment that reflects the spirit of responsibility for this country.”
“My advice for voters is to cast their votes to those who deserve it as it is a trust and they should choose the one who best represents them,” he added.
He further said: “The former Shura Council laid important foundations for working with the government and the rest of the other entities, therefore there was great coordination between these bodies, and I hope that the upcoming Shura Council will complete these achievements.
For the electoral campaigns and candidatures, he said, people should register first and everyone must obey the laws and respect the elections phases.
The applications for registration of candidates will start on August 22 (Sunday) and will continue until August 26 (Thursday) and that the final list of candidates will be announced on September 15.
“I hope that the elections will be held in an atmosphere characterised by consensus, away from quarrels as the goal is to serve Qatar,” he said.