Determinants of UAE Voters’ Preferences for Federal National Council Candidates

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14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the voting behavior in United Arab Emirates by asking 1,800 citizens about which criteria they used to vote for a particular candidate in the past Federal National Council elections. Using descriptive statistics, the study showed that although patron-client networks played a role in voter's preferences — as existing literature about Middle East voters’ behavior has established — they were superseded by personal attributes and the impact of candidates’ campaigns. Emiratis voted for candidates based on three groups of factors, namely: 1) personal characteristics of the candidate including: public speaking skills, political experience, age, gender and educational level; 2) impact of a candidate's campaign including electoral promises and content of the campaign; and 3) patron-client networks including having personal and kinship relationship with candidate. The study showed that religious, political, and personal appearance factors were insignificant.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)213-235
Number of pages23
JournalDomes : digest of Middle East studies
Volume24
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 1 2015

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cultural Studies
  • History
  • Religious studies
  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Political Science and International Relations
  • Law

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