Qataris vote for the first time to elect part of their Legislative Council and no women are among the winners

Qatar held its first-ever legislative elections on Saturday, in a tentative step towards democracy in which Qataris were given the chance to choose from 223 candidates for two-thirds of the 45-seat "Shura" (consultative) council, a legislative body that will have limited powers.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, hours behind schedule, the election commission announced the 30 winners, which did not include any of the 26 women candidates, and that the turnout was 63.5 per cent, although it did not say how many people were eligible to vote.

The 26 women were running in 14 of the country's 30 constituencies and most of them started out with little chance of winning a seat due to the conservative tribal nature of Qatari society.

Some were competing with up to 10 men, several of whom were members of the same family or tribe vying for a seat in the same constituency.

However, in the final list of winners, none of them won their constituency despite the fact that the state news agency, QNA, had noted that they had participated in large numbers in the vote. "Thousands of them turned out to cast their votes to choose their candidates," it said.

Voting took place between 8am local time (5am GMT) and 6pm (3pm GMT), when polling stations were closed as scheduled, and counting of votes began immediately afterwards.

Throughout the day, Qatari media showed pictures of some senior state officials as they cast their votes. Among them was not the emir, but the prime minister, Khaled bin Khalifa al-Thani, who highlighted the importance of the vote as a "historic achievement" for Qatar.

"The people of Qatar voted today to elect the members of the first elected Shura Council in a general and secret ballot (...) It is a new historic achievement that adds to our country's resolve to broaden popular participation in decision-making," the Qatari head of government said on his Twitter account.

"I congratulate the people on this success and thank everyone who participated in this national event: candidates, voters and organisers," added Al-Thani, who also holds the interior portfolio.

The 30 winners of this election will be joined in the Shura Council by 15 other members appointed directly by the Amir, Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

The Council will have legislative powers, oversee the government and approve the country's overall budget, but will not be allowed to intervene in the Amir's advisory bodies such as the Supreme Defence, National Security or Economic Affairs Councils.

According to the electoral law, the candidate who obtained the highest number of votes in a constituency was considered the winner of a seat and in the event that two or more candidates obtained the same number of votes, the electoral commission would draw lots among them for the seat in their presence, although this was not reported to have been resorted to in any case.

Qatar, which does not allow political parties, had had a consultative body since 1972 appointed entirely by the head of state until 29 July when the emir decreed the first elections for the Shura Council.

The Arab nation, the world's largest gas exporter and preparing to host the first football World Cup in an Arab country in a year's time, has a population of some 2.7 million, 13 per cent of whom are Qatari and the rest immigrants.