First Qatar elections to be held next year

DOHA - US ally Qatar plans to hold landmark elections next year for the Gulf country's first parliament as part of democratic reforms.

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani told a forum on democracy that elections laws would be ready by the summer.

"We expect they (elections) will take place by the beginning of next year," he said.

The election is likely to please Washington which is promoting political, economic and social reforms throughout the Arab world since invading Iraq and deposing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Qatar hosted a US command centre for the 2003 war on Iraq.

The elections are stipulated in the country's first constitution since independence from Britain in 1971 and which a majority of Qataris voted for in a 2003 referendum.

The constitution keeps power in the hands of the emir, Qatar's head of state, but allows for an elected parliament.

A law has yet to be drafted specifying what powers will be delegated to the parliament.

Voters, including women, will be able to choose 30 of the 45 members of parliament while the emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, will appoint the rest.

The Gulf Arab state is home to some 850,000 people, about 150,000 of them Qatari nationals.

Qatar currently has an advisory Shura council whose members are all appointed by the emir.

The Opec-member has the world's third largest gas reserves after Russia and Iran and has a booming economy fuelled by high energy prices.

- REUTERS