ABU DHABI, Dec 16: Hand-picked voters cast ballots on Saturday to elect members of the United Arab Emirates’ advisory assembly in the first elections since the Gulf Arab state was created in 1971.

Rulers of the seven emirates comprising the UAE have chosen 6,689 voters, less than one per cent of its 800,000 nationals, to elect half the 40-seat Federal National Council (FNC).

Phase one of the polls began on Saturday in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi and the smaller emirate of Fujairah, with a stream of voters casting their ballots for the first time, voting by computer in the region’s first electronic election. Voters in the five other emirates, including the booming regional trade hub Dubai, vote on Monday and Wednesday.—Reuters