Tiny Sheikdom Qatar Takes Big Step Toward Democracy

With one of the world’s highest per-capita incomes and only about 150,000 citizens, this small, close-knit state on a peninsula in the Persian Gulf is practically as much a club as it is a country.

Despite its pint size of 4,247 square miles, however, Qatar proved itself on Monday to be a leader in bringing democracy to the region. It held its first elections, and in a step that was nothing less than revolutionary for the conservative region, women were permitted both to vote and to run for office.

Amid smiles and a sea of fluttering black veils, democracy was born in Qatar, fittingly, on International Women’s Day.

“In my wildest dreams, I wouldn’t think it would happen in Qatar in my lifetime,” said Jehan Meer, a professor of biochemistry and genetic engineering at the University of Qatar. “But here I am, sitting in an election site.”

Meer, who earned a master’s degree at Cal State Long Beach and a doctorate at the University of London, was one of six women who defied the conventions of their country to run for a place on a 29-member council that will advise the Ministry of Local Government.

None of the six women seriously expected to win, and they were right. When returns came in Monday night, an all-male council had been chosen.

But by calling the elections, Sheik Hamad ibn Khalifa al Thani sent a not-so-subtle message to his fellow Gulf rulers that the best way for monarchs to stay in power is to voluntarily empower the people.

At Meer’s polling station, a school in the eastern part of Doha, the Mercedeses, BMWs and Toyota Land Cruisers were triple-parked outside, as Qataris thronged to fulfill their first act as full-fledged members of a budding democracy.

“I will probably have to wait for an hour,” said Khaled Emadi, an employee of the state telephone company. “But we believe we have to vote.”

Voters acknowledged that the council on local government was not in itself likely to be very powerful. But the vote still was seen as important because it was the first time since independence in 1971 that Qataris had the chance to vote for official representatives.

Besides, the emir--a 49-year-old baby boomer who has increased freedoms since coming to power in 1995--has made clear that the council elections will be a dry run for parliamentary elections within three years.

Elected government is largely an untried model for the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the tribally run, conservative Islamic Arab states that control much of the world’s petroleum. Among the six, only Kuwait has a parliament. And there, women are not allowed to participate. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates have no direct elections; consultative council members are appointed to help advise the rulers.

So Qatar’s decision was startling, and the move was likely to embolden democrats and women in the region.

In deciding to include women, the emir did meet some murmurs of resistance. Qatar’s traditions are not very different from those in Saudi Arabia next door.

In both countries, the majority of women do not venture outside the home unless they are covered in black from head to toe. Most women hide their faces--as well as their hair and bodies--with only the eyes showing through a gauzy or slitted veil. Restaurants and other public places have separate sections for men and women, and females rarely drive.

Unlike Saudi Arabia, however, in Qatar these social mores are not enforced by the police. Women are free to abide by the strictures or not, and the emir’s second wife and consort, Princess Mozah, promotes women’s rights.

About 23,000 Qataris registered to vote, including nearly 10,000 women. After nine hours, between 90% and 95% of those registered had cast ballots in the capital, and a somewhat smaller percentage in rural areas, officials said.

The voting went smoothly despite delays due to crowds. In a bow to conservative sensibilities, there were separate voting queues and ballot boxes for men and women.

Most people still are too traditional to actually elect women, said candidate Muza Malki, a rare example of an unveiled Qatari woman. Educated partly in the United States with a degree in family counseling, she is planning to open the emirate’s first family counseling practice.

Malki said before the vote that no matter what the outcome, she was thinking of the future. “My eye is on the parliament. People have to go on to the next step--this election is the first stop to having a parliament where we can do real changes.”

The victory was that the vote took place at all, two U.S. observers said.

“I am very excited by the idea that there is an Arab country that is willing to allow women to run as candidates,” said U.S. Rep. Sue W. Kelly (R-N.Y.), who traveled to Qatar with another congresswoman, Carolyn B. Maloney, a New York Democrat.