Low turnout in UAE vote - FT.com

Ignoring calls from their rulers, fewer than a third of those eligible to vote turned out in elections for a government advisory body in the United Arab Emirates, according to results released over the weekend.

Only around 28 per cent of a total 129,000 eligible Emiratis voted in Saturday’s elections for the federal national council, the advisory body, according to figures provided by the state-run news agency. The UAE’s total national population is usually put at 1m.

Only 21 per cent of those eligible voted in Abu Dhabi, the capital and the largest of the seven emirates which make up the UAE, and 25 per cent in Dubai, the commercial centre, according to The National newspaper, which is owned by the Abu Dhabi government.

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