President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued decree No. 9 of 2018, amending provisions in Resolution No 3 of 2006 on the method of selecting representatives of the emirates for the Federal National Council (FNC).
The move follows the President’s recent decision to increase women’s representation in FNC to 50 per cent, starting with next year’s elections.
According to the newly issued decree, published in the latest issue of the Official Gazette — Article 4 (paragraph 1), Article 7, and Article 8 of the resolution have been amended to reflect the following:
Article 4, section 1, stipulates that National Election Commission (NEC) referred to as the ‘committee’, will be chaired by the Minister of State for FNC Affairs. The committee members include the Minister of Justice, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, Minister of State for Youth, Minister of the Federal Supreme Council at the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, and a representative from the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs.
It also includes a representative from the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, the Director-General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, an Under-Secretary from the Ministry of State for FNC Affairs, an assistant Secretary-General at the Ministry of State for FNC Affairs, and a Rapporteur, in addition to three members of the public selected by the Committee’s chairman.
Article 7 states that the Ministry of State for FNC Affairs shall act as the secretariat of the committee and shall be headed by the Under Secretary of the Ministry.
As per the new amendments to Article 8, Ministry of State for FNC Affairs will have to submit an estimated budget for the implementation of the FNC elections and provide them to the Ministry of Finance, when preparing its draft budget in the fiscal year preceding the elections, in compliance with procedures followed in this regard.
Article 2 stipulates that the new subcommittees referred to in Article 8 of the resolution and its amendments will have a new committee called ‘Smart Systems Committee’.
SOURCE : GULFNEWS