Oman's 2026 Decree Reserving 11 Shura Council Seats for Women After a Zero-Women 2023 Election

Oman's October 2023 Shura Council election drew 843 candidates competing for 90 seats, including 32 women — yet despite women comprising 48% of registered voters, none won a seat, according to Asharq Al-Awsat, a decline from earlier terms in which the council held one or two female members.

In June 2026, Sultan Haitham issued a decree adding 11 seats to the Shura Council, one reserved for a woman in each of Oman's governorates, running alongside — not replacing — the existing competitively elected seats, per reporting by The National. Omani officials described the move as intended to broaden women's role in political and social development after the 2023 shortfall.

This entry is presented as an unproven but concretely documented institutional response: no election has yet been held under the expanded structure, so the reform's effect on women's substantive influence in the council cannot yet be evaluated. It is included to track a real, dated policy commitment against its measured trigger — the 2023 result of zero women elected — rather than as a demonstrated success.

Read the full analysis: https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/gulf/2026/06/16/omans-sultan-haitham-allocates-11-additional-shura-council-seats-for-women/