Gulf Arab states should pursue democratic reform without feeling that they must follow models not in line with their tradition, the president of the European parliament said on Saturday. "Democracy in the region must be home-grown according to their traditions and values," Hans-Gert Poettering told Reuters during a visit to the Omani capital Muscat.
"They should not be pressurised by the West to adopt the democracy path followed by Europe," he said. Oman has a 84-member consultative council, an elected representative advisory institution that can review legislation. Set aside Kuwait, which has an elected legislature that has a history of challenging the government, other oil-exporting Gulf Arab monarchies are still inching slowly towards a measure of popular representation.
Saudi Arabia, the region's largest country, has an appointed council that advises the government and Bahrain has an elected house which shares its powers with an appointed council.
Qatar has missed a 2007 target for its first parliamentary election and said in March it was still preparing the legal framework for democracy. The United Arab Emirates had an advisory council and its members are elected from a group of hand-picked candidates selected by the government.