16 councillors retain their seats in CMC election

Elections for the Central Municipal Council (CMC) held across Qatar on Tuesday saw at least 16 old faces retaining their seats for another four-year term.

A total of 101 candidates, including four women, contested the elections for 29 seats with the polling process recording a turnout of 43.4%.

In the first two constituencies , Tariq Saif Ali al-Mali (Al Jasra) and Jassim Abdullah Jassim al-Malki (Al Doha Al Hadeesa) have retained their constituents’ confidence in them until 2015.

Constituency 3 (Al Marikhiyaa) saw a newcomer Mohamed Jassim al-Musalmani take the seat from former member Ibrahim Abdullah Hassan al-Ibrahim.

Constituency 4 (Madina Khalifa North) also elected a new member, Hamad Khalid al-Kubaisi, who unseated former CMC member Abdullah Nasir al-Qahtani.

In Constituency 5 (Madina Khalifa South) and 7 (Al Salatha) former members Mohamed Shaheen Rashid al-Dosairi and Abdullah Saeed al-Sulaiti, respectively, retained their seats, while Constituency 6 (Bin Umran) and Constituency 8 (Al Hilal) saw new entrants Ali Shaheen al-Kuwari and Mashal Hasan al-Dahneem, winning the seats, defeating Ali Ahmad Ali al-Kuwari and Abdulhammed Saeed Naser Allah, respectively.

Not much changed for the incumbent members of the CMC from Constituencies 9 (Airport), 10 (Wakrah) and 11 (Mesaeeid), where Sheikha Yousef al-Jufeiri, Hasan Abbas Abdul Rahim and Saeed Ali al-Marri, respectively, continue to command public’s respect.

Sheikha Yousef al-Jufeiri from the Old Airport area remains the only woman in the 29-member Council, as has been the case with her since the last elections in 2007.

In Constituency 12 (Abu Hamour), newcomer Saleh Jabor al-Marri defeated former member Hamed Rashid Mohamed al-Nabet, just as Saleh Rashid Jarallah of Constituency 14 (Al Murrah) unseated former member Saeed Naser Hamed al-Awamy al-Marri.

Hamad Khalid al-Ghanem of Constituency 13 (Ghanem Al Jadeed) and Mohamed Ali al-Azbeh of Constituency 15 (Muaither) have retained their CMC seats, polling results showed.

In Constituency 16 (Mureikh) newcomer Mohamed Salim al-Marri will take the seat of Hamed Salem Mohamed al-Marri, while Constituencies 17 (Muaither North, Saud al-Hanzab), 18 (Rayyan New, Mohamed Hamoud al-Shafi), 19 (Rayyan Old, Hamad Saleh al-Houl), 20 (Al Nasiriyya, Mohamed Saleh al-Hajri), and 21 (Al Gharaffa, Mubarak Fareesh) returned the incumbent members.

Constituency 22 (Um Salal) saw Ahmad Sultan al-Sheeb take the seat of Mohamed Khamis Jamaan al-Ali, just as Constituency 23 (Al Khuraithiyath) witnessed the win of newcomer Hamad Hadi al-Marri who will take the seat of Ali Naser Issa al-Kaabi.

Constituencies 24 (Al Shahhaniyya) where Mohamed Zafer al-Hajri defeated Shahir Saud Shahir al-Namasi al-Shammari, and 25 (Dukhan) where Mohamed Faisal al-Shahwani won, defeating Rashid Abdulhadi Talib al-Shahwani al-Hajri, also saw changes in the fortunes of candidates.

At Constituencies 26 (Al Khor) and 28 (Shamal) Saqr Saeed al-Mohannadi and Saad Ali al-Nuaimi respectively got re-elected.

A newcomer, Hamad Lahdan al-Mohannadi of Constituency 27 (Zakheera) will replace Ali Hassan Juma al-Hassan al-Mohannadi, and Saeed Mubarak al-Rashidi of Constituency 29 (Al Ghuwairiya) will take the seat of Nassir Abdullah Saeed al-Amer al-Kaabi.

The Al Ghuwairiyia’s al-Kaabi is the outgoing chairman of the CMC, while Jassim Abdullah Jassim al-Malki of Al Doha Al Hadeesa, who retained his seat, served as the vice-chairman after the 2007 electoral term.

The new CMC members will now elect a chairman and a vice-chairman through secret ballots shortly.