2011 Emirati parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in the United Arab Emirates on 24 September 2011 to elect the half of the members of Federal National Council. The elections were held using electoral colleges, which were expanded from around 6,689 members in the 2006 elections to 129,274. However, only 35,877 voters voted, with a voter turnout of 27.75%.

Electoral college
The 2011 parliamentary elections had an expanded electoral college constituting 129,274 members, made up of 46% females and 54% males, of which 35% were younger than 30 years.

Candidates
Nominations of candidates took place between 14 and 17 August. On 20 August 2011, the National Elections Commission announced the preliminary list of candidates, stating that 469 members of the electoral college nominated themselves to be candidates for the parliamentary elections. Of those 469 nominees, 85 were women.

After last-minute applications were taken into account, the final list included 477 candidates.

Campaign
The campaign period lasted from 4 to 21 September 2011. Some observers called for a delay in the voting process to allow for more time for candidates to campaign.

Candidates were prohibited from using religion in their campaign, and campaign spending was limited to AED 2 million (US$544,400).

Nominated members
The appointed members announced were:
 * Abu Dhabi:
 * 1) Noura Al Kaabi
 * 2) Sultan Al Daheri
 * 3) Khalifa Al Suwaidi
 * 4) Amal Al Qubaisi


 * Dubai:
 * 1) Afra Al Basti
 * 2) Mona Al Bahar
 * 3) Mohammad Al Murr
 * 4) Ahmad Al Mansouri


 * Sharjah:
 * 1) Shaikha Al Owais
 * 2) Ahmad Al Zaabi
 * 3) Yaqoub Al Naqbi


 * Ras Al Khaimah:
 * 1) Abdul Al Zaabi
 * 2) Rashid Al Shuraiqi
 * 3) Abdul Al Shaheen


 * Ajman:
 * 1) Ahmad Al Shamsi
 * 2) Ali Al Nuaimi


 * Fujairah:
 * 1) Mohammad Al Raqabani
 * 2) Aisha Al Yamahi


 * Umm Al Quwain:
 * 1) Ali Ahmad
 * 2) Humaid Ali

Aftermath
Mohammad Al Murr was elected unopposed as speaker of the Federal National Council.