The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has delivered the success of its political engagement process at the third Forum of Electoral Management Bodies in the Arab States, with its theme Electoral Systems in the Arab Countries.

The virtual forum that was held for 3 days was organised by the League of Arab States Electoral Affairs Department, in conjunction with the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)s Regional Electoral Support for the Arab States.

The event was represented by UAE as an official delegation headed by His Excellency Sami bin Adi, Assistant Undersecretary for the Support Services Sector at the MFNCA, with representatives including officials and senior employees of the Council and its General Secretariat of the National Elections Committee (NEC). The event was virtually attended by the representatives of electoral administrations in the member states of the League of Arab States and of regional and international organisations specialising in electoral matters.

The UAE delegation during the event presented a white paper which highlighted the 2005 Political Empowerment Programme introduced by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, in his speech on the UAEs 34th National Day, which relayed a plan of action and an integrated national vision to activate the role of the Federal National Council, enhance political participation, and consolidate the Shura approach in gradual stages that align with the distinct values of Emirati society.

"This forum was an ideal opportunity to present the achievements made by the UAE in building a pioneering parliamentary experience, in accordance with the defined path of the Political Empowerment Programme of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, which aims to activate the role of the Council as a supporting authority to the government to serve the country and its citizens. This comes in line with the values of participation and the Shura that will contribute to building a parliamentary experience commensurate with the UAEs advanced position on all global indices said His Excellency Sami bin Adi .

"This Electoral Management Bodies in the Arab States forum also allowed us to share the UAEs model in managing electoral cycles, which has become a global benchmark. The models modern and innovative technologies support efforts in spreading a culture of political participation on a large scale. It also facilitates electoral processes where the previous four electoral cycle sessions having achieved effective participation by all groups and members of society. added His Excellency.

The white paper pointed out the achievements of the electoral cycles and the techniques that were employed to facilitate participation which includes the electronic voting system (e-Voting) as one of the innovative initiatives that contributed to the abolition of paper lists/ballots to verify the identity of voters and reduce the time required to ensure the eligibility of people to cast their ballots from four minutes to one minute.

The e-voting system also shortened the time taken to cast electoral votes to two minutes instead of five minutes. The advanced mechanisms were part of an integrated system to conduct the voting process, calculate and count the votes and extract the results promptly and accurately within only five minutes instead of the one day that it took previously.