Muscat – HE Sayyid Hamoud bin Faisal Al Busaidi, Minister of Interior, has affirmed that the Royal directive to reserve one seat for Omani women in Majlis A’Shura from each governorate reflects His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik’s commitment to ensuring the permanent representation of women from across the Sultanate and broadening community participation in the legislative process.

The Minister said the directive provides for the allocation of 11 seats for women in Majlis A’Shura, with one seat assigned to each governorate. At the same time, women will continue to contest seats in their respective wilayats under the existing provisions of the Election Law, competing on equal terms with all other candidates.

He explained that the additional governorate-level seat will be awarded to the woman candidate who secures the highest percentage of votes relative to the total number of voters in the wilayat from which she contests, compared with other female candidates across the governorate’s wilayats. The candidate with the highest such percentage will be declared the winner of the reserved seat while representing her wilayat in Majlis A’Shura.

Al Busaidi added that if a woman wins a regular wilayat seat by obtaining the highest number of votes under the existing electoral system, the governorate’s reserved seat will remain available for competition among the other female candidates in that governorate.