The National Election Committee (NEC) organised today a training workshop on election campaign regulations for the members of the Emirates Committees and their employees as the campaign is set to begin for the Federal National Council Elections 2015.

The workshop was aimed at raising awareness about the legal aspects related to the campaigns carried out by the candidates in order to ensure their compliance in accordance with the executive instructions of the 2015 electoral process. It was also aimed at highlighting the mechanism for curbing possible electoral violations by candidates.

On the occasion, the NEC offered a detailed outline of acceptable and non-acceptable practices related to the candidates campaigns, and how the regulations can help maintain the integrity and transparency of the overall process. The workshop helped highlight the role of the Emirates Committees in achieving fair electoral campaigns by candidates across all the emirates.

Commenting on the workshop, His Excellency Dr. Saeed Mohammad Al Ghafli, Assistant Undersecretary for Federal National Council Affairs in the Ministry of State for Federal National Council Affairs, said the Committee will work on clarifying all legal aspects related to the executive instructions. HE Dr. Ghafli said the NEC would also ensure that election campaign forms filled by the candidates are submitted to the Emirates Committees before the start of the campaign. HE Dr. Ghafli pointed out that NEC will work to implement the campaign activities through the efforts of Emirates Committees in line with the executive instructions.

The NEC has urged all candidates to abide by the governing regulations and directives issued by the Committee in terms of electoral campaign in accordance with the executive instructions Articles from 39 51 , Dr. Ghafli said, adding that non-compliance would attract penalties as per the instructions.

The NEC reserves the right to report violations that disrupt the electoral process or the implementation of the executive instructions as per Article 51 of the instructions. The Committee can impose the following penalties: Issue a warning to exclude a member of an electoral authority from the list of electoral authorities or from candidate lists in both the original and supplementary elections; exclusion of names from the candidates lists, even if lists are considered final; cancellation of campaign licences granted to candidates; a mandatory fine that does not exceed AED 5,000; directing a candidate to hand over any amount that was obtained by the candidate outside the executive instruction frameworks; ordering a candidate to remove any violations related to the electoral campaign and compensate for any damages that may result from these violations at the candidates own expense; and cancelling the electoral results in the respective emirate.

According to the timeframe that was announced by the NEC, electoral campaigns will begin on Sunday 6th September 2015 and will continue until Wednesday 30th September 2015.