Qatar: Constitutional Challenges

This chapter examines the development of Qatar’s constitutional system. It is divided into two main sections. The first is historic: it describes Qatar’s political and constitutional system under British authority, under the Provisional Basic Law of 1970 (‘the Provisional Basic Law’), and under the amended Provisional Basic Law of 1972 (‘the Amended Provisional Basic Law’). The second section examines the events leading up to the passage of a permanent Constitution in 2004 (the ‘2004 Constitution’, or the ‘Permanent Constitution’), and in this section we learn about the scope of the democratic system and the principle of separation of powers stipulated in the Constitution. This section analyzes the main provisions of this text. It shows that while the 2004 Constitution provides for the transformation of Qatar’s fully appointed Advisory Council (the ‘Council’ or ‘Shura Council’) into a partially elected legislative body, these provisions were not enforced until the Shura Council elections of October 2021. The chapter details how the 2004 Constitution created important changes by permitting – for the first time – the judiciary to exercise competence over administrative and constitutional matters. As a result, Qatar has established specialized administrative districts in the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal that exercise oversight over some government agencies. Yet even in this area, progress has been uneven. Although courts are empowered to exercise judicial review, specific areas of redress are deemed non-justiciable. In addition, provisions related to the development of a constitutional court remain un-activated. The chapter will also examine the Shura Council elections that took place in October 2021, and related events.