Shura Council election campaign gathers momentum

A board promoting the campaigns of a candidates alongside the road. PICTURES: Shaji Kayamkulam

The candidates for the upcoming Shura Council elections have been very active over the past few days to promote their media campaigns, introducing introducing themselves and their programmes and ideas to the potential voters, mainly focusing on what they would be offering if elected according to the set jurisdiction of the council.The boards promoting the campaigns of different candidates alongside the various streets and roads are considered to be a novelty in the country, even though this was seen on a very limited scale during the Central Municipal Council elections. However, both the candidates and voters are highly aware of the key and serious importance of the Shura council elections as the elected members would have some legislative powers that could directly impact the future of the country and its people. The Qatari people are highly enthusiastic and they are very keen to study all the possible options carefully to go for the best candidates based mainly on their capabilities and potential to offer ideas and services that practically contribute to pushing forward the progress of the development in the country. Among the various available platforms on the social media, the candidates have given special focus to launch their official accounts on Twitter. Local Arabic daily Arrayah reported that almost all the candidates have started to post their programmes and opinions through Twitter alongside short video clips indicating their message to the voters and what they promise to offer.In the meantime, some candidates spoke to Qatar TV about their programmes and the main issues that they would focus on if they could make it to the council. They were all given equal opportunity to present their ideas and visions for the future of the council, given them a free platform to reach out to their voters.  Abdulla Haiy Mubarak al-Sulaiti, candidate for the 3rd constituency, pointed out that his programme focuses on monitoring and control on the executive powers and tackling the issues and topics that directly impact the lives of citizens, in addition to deciding on the general public budget and participating in developing the legislative work.  He noted that the prices of various services and items in the country are very expensive making a load on the income of families, especially the retired persons. So, he will try to address the issue of salaries and pensions to make them suitable for dealing with such increasing prices, besides increasing the amount of loans given to the young Qataris for to help them with the expenses of marriage.Amal al-Subaie, candidate for the 8th constituency, said that her programme will focus on a number of factors including social security, environment and suitability issues, energy security and others. She said that security and development are considered basics for the stability and order in societies. She added that she is particularly interested in promoting family and child issues as well as young people and the elderly as every particular group has its own needs and demands. Further, she stressed the importance of maintaining the cultural heritage of the country.Jassim Fakhro, candidate for the 7th constituency, said that he aims at working at revising and developing the laws that directly touches on the lives of people and enhancing control on enforcing them without any red tape and bureaucracy. He explained that his programme focuses on five main sectors covering health, economy, labour market, women, and education.Mariam al-Sulaiti, candidate for the 3rd constituency, said that her programme focuses on the legislations that would enhance the performance of the various institutes and organisations of the country, in addition to enhancing transparency in selecting capable persons for public posts.  Moza al-Sulaiti, candidate for the 3rd constituency, said she would focus on revising and reviewing the laws and legislations and their financial impacts, in addition to establishing a practical system of social protection, among other key issues.