Under the UAE system of government, the President of the Federation is elected by a body known as the Supreme Council of Rulers. The Supreme Council is the top policy-making body in the UAE, and the President and Vice President are both elected from its membership for renewable five-year terms.

The Supreme Council has both legislative and executive powers. In addition to planning and ratifying federal laws, the Supreme Council approves the President’s nominated Prime Minister and is equipped to accept his resignation, if required.

The Prime Minister is appointed by the President. He or she then appoints a Council of Ministers, or Cabinet, to oversee the development and implementation of federal policy across all portfolios of government.

In addition to the Supreme Council and the Council of Ministers, a 40-member parliament known as the Federal National Council (FNC) also examines proposed new legislation and provides advice to the UAE Cabinet, as required. The FNC is empowered to call and question Ministers in regard to their own performance, providing an additional degree of accountability to the system. Groundbreaking developments to open up decisionmaking were made in December 2006, with the first indirect election of FNC members. Previously, all FNC members were appointed by the Rulers of each Emirate.

The introduction of indirect elections represents the beginning of a process to modernize the UAE’s system of government. Under these reforms, individual Rulers select an electoral college whose members total 100 times the number of FNC members held by that Emirate. The members of each college then elect half of the FNC members, while the other half continue to be appointed by each Ruler.

The most recent elections occurred in 2015. The process resulted in an FNC in which nearly one-quarter of its members are women – including the body’s president, Dr. Amal Al Qubaisi. Women also serve in the federal cabinet and are being appointed to positions in the judiciary.

Future initiatives are expected to expand the size of the FNC and strengthen the interaction between it and the Council of Ministers, to further improve the efficiency, accountability and participatory nature of government in the UAE. In November 2008, the terms for FNC members were extended from two to four years, which is more consistent with other parliaments in the world. In addition, the government will report to the FNC about proposed international treaties and agreements, and those agreements will be discussed by the FNC before their ratification.

Historically, the political environment of the UAE has been characterized by great affection for the country’s leadership and institutions of government. This is largely in response to the rapid growth and development the UAE has experienced under their guidance in recent decades.

The UAE’s rich history is rooted in trade and tied to Islam, which came to the region in AD 630. The Emirates’ location between Europe and the Far East attracted merchants from India and China and was prized by Europeans, particularly the Portuguese, Dutch and British.

While Europeans sought control of the coasts, inland, the Bedouin made the sandy deserts of Abu Dhabi and Dubai their home. The town of Abu Dhabi became an important center.

In the 19th century, the British signed a series of agreements with individual Emirates that resulted in an area known as “The Trucial States.” The Emirates agreed not to cede any territory except to the United Kingdom and to refrain from engagement with any foreign government other than the United Kingdom without prior consent from the British. In return, the British promised to protect the coast from all aggression by sea and to provide assistance in the event of an attack by land.

The pearling industry thrived in the 19th and early 20th centuries, providing income and employment to the people of the Gulf. Many inhabitants were semi-nomadic, pearling in the summer and tending date gardens in the winter. But the economic depression of the late 1920s and early 1930s coupled with the Japanese invention of the cultured pearl irreparably damaged the pearling industry.

New Beginnings
In the early 1930s the first oil company teams conducted geological surveys in the UAE. Almost thirty short years later, in 1962, the first cargo of crude oil was exported from Abu Dhabi. With the economy steadily progressing, HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan was chosen as the Ruler of Abu Dhabi in 1966. Under Sheikh Zayed, the steady oil revenues resulted in an infrastructure overhaul with the construction of schools, housing, hospitals and roads throughout Abu Dhabi.

One of Sheikh Zayed’s early actions was to increase contributions to the Trucial States Development Fund, with Abu Dhabi becoming the Fund’s largest donor. Meanwhile HH Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, de facto Ruler of Dubai since 1939, replaced pearling revenues by becoming a part of the shipping industry. And, in 1969 as the Emirate of Dubai began exporting oil, Sheikh Rashid focused his attention on developing programs aimed at improving the quality of life of his people with the new oil revenues. In 1968, with the British announcement of its withdrawal from the Arabian Gulf, Sheikh Zayed stepped into action to quickly establish closer ties among the Emirates. Together with Sheikh Rashid, Sheikh Zayed called for a federation that would include not only the seven Emirates that together made up the Trucial States, but also Qatar and Bahrain.

An agreement was reached between the rulers of six of the Emirates (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Umm al-Quwain, Fujairah and Ajman), and the federation to be known as the United Arab Emirates was formally established on 2 December 1971. The seventh Emirate, Ra’s al-Khaimah, acceded to the new federation the following year.

Since the formation of the union, the seven Emirates have forged a distinct national identity. The UAE’s political system has been designed to ensure the country’s heritage is maintained, adapted and preserved by combining tradition with a modern administrative structure.