Qataris say no to popular elections for legislature

Qataris have voted away the right to elect their own legislators, ending a short-lived experiment with participatory democracy in a region where authoritarian leadership is the norm. At the same time, voters have enshrined the role of international mediator in the constitution of the Persian Gulf nation, which has hosted peace talks involving parties ranging from the Taliban to Hamas to Israel. In a referendum held earlier this month, voters approved a package of constitutional amendments that revoked an earlier change providing for two-thirds of the seats in the nation’s legislature, the Shura Council, to be filled through popular elections.

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