The Shura Council elections Supervisory Committee discussed the electoral process and mechanism at the first session of the heads of electoral committees on Wednesday night.
The meeting took place at the Ministry of Interior (MoI) headquarters in Doha. The election is scheduled for October 2.
Abdulrahman Ali al-Faraheed al-Malki, a member of the committee, reviewed the election day procedures and discussed how to prepare voters and ensure they adhere to all health precautions. He also discussed the voting process and procedures, which include the voter wearing a mask, having his/her Ehteraz app, adhering to social distancing and showing his/her ID, as well as how to electronically ensure the voter is registered to vote.
The voter then receives his/her voting card before proceeding to vote. The voting process should see the voter mark a tick sign in the square corresponding to the desired candidate, after which the individual should fold the paper and place it in the ballot box.
Al-Malki explained that each electoral committee premises will have two doors - one for men and the other for women. He added that the role of security personnel is to maintain order outside an electoral committee and may not the committee premises except based on a request from its head.
Only voters, candidates and their deputies are allowed inside the committee premises.
Al-Malki said the role of candidates and their deputies on election day is just to monitor the election process, and they are not allowed to try and influence the voters.
Those who gain the majority of valid votes will be elected to the Shura Council. In case two or more candidates have an equal number of votes, the head of the electoral committee could then cast his vote to decide the winner. The head of the committee will announce the winner to the candidates after sorting the votes and has to inform the Supervisory Committee the same day.
For his part, member of the committee Brigadier-General Abdulrahman Majed al-Sulaiti said yesterday's meeting came in the framework of the Supervisory Committee's preparations for election day on October 2, and reviewed its efforts in that regard.
He said each committee consists of a judge (head of the committee), a member from the MoI and a civilian from the Ministry of Justice. They all should come early to the committee and receive the ballot boxes, voting cards and voting list along with all other tools required for the voting process. The committee then invites the candidates or their deputies inside the premises and are informed of the total number of voters listed before they take their place at 8am, when the head of the committee announces the beginning of the voting process.
Following the announcement of the winner, the electoral committee will send all the voting cards, and the minutes of sorting votes, to the elections department.
 
 
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