Consultative Assembly of Qatar in the context of "Emir of Qatar"

Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares its sole land border with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its territory surrounded by the Persian Gulf. The Gulf of Bahrain, an inlet of the Persian Gulf, separates Qatar from nearby Bahrain. The capital is Doha, home to over 80% of the country's inhabitants. Most of the land area is made up of flat, low-lying desert.

Qatar has been ruled as a hereditary monarchy by the House of Thani since Mohammed bin Thani signed an agreement with Britain in 1868 that recognised its separate status. Following Ottoman rule, Qatar became a British protectorate in 1916 and gained independence in 1971. The current emir is Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who, like previous emirs, holds nearly all executive, legislative, and judicial authority in an autocratic manner under the Constitution of Qatar. He appoints the prime minister and cabinet. The Consultative Assembly (also known as the "Shura Council") can block legislation and has a limited ability to dismiss ministers, but is fully appointed by the emir. While Qatar held a partial Shura Council election in 2021, with two thirds of seats elected, in 2024 it moved to abolish those elections altogether, and reverted to a fully appointed Assembly.

General elections were held in Qatar for the first time on 2 October 2021 to elect 30 of the 45 seats in the Consultative Assembly. The elections had originally been scheduled for the second half of 2013, before being postponed in June 2013 until at least 2016. In 2016 they were postponed again. Finally, in November 2020, Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani pledged to hold the election in October 2021.

In a 2024 referendum future elections were abolished, making this the only legislative election in Qatar's history for the foreseeable future.

A referendum took place in Qatar on 5 November 2024 regarding the new revisions to the 2004 constitution. Some of the changes included strengthening the role of the emir and abolishment of the elections to the Consultative Assembly, with its members being appointed instead. The referendum results were be legally binding.

A referendum to approve a new constitution was held in Qatar on 29 April 2003. The constitution was overwhelmingly approved, with over 98% in favour. The population of the country was estimated to be around 790,000 at the time of the referendum with only 85,000 registered voters (because the majority of the population are foreign workers). Voter turnout was 84.3%. With the referendum's approval, it also created a legislative body of which two-thirds would be elected by universal suffrage, and one third appointed by the Emir. According to the new constitution, the legislature will have three powers: to approve (but not prepare) the national budget; to monitor the performance of ministers through no-confidence votes; and to draft, discuss, and vote on proposed legislation, which becomes law only with the vote of a two-thirds majority and the Emir's endorsement.