UAE nationals arrive at a polling station in Dubai during voting in the country’s first elections in United Arab Emirates.

A total of 224,279 eligible Emirati voters started casting their ballots on Saturday to elect 20 representatives of the 40-member government advisory body the Federal National Council (FNC), the country’s national elections committee said.

Half of the FNC’s members are 20 are elected by eligible Emirati citizens, and the other half are selected by the rulers of each of the seven emirates.

The 36 polling centers opened at 8:00 a.m. and expected to close at 8:00 pm after which the preliminary results will be announced.

Eleven of the polling stations are in the capital Abu Dhabi, six in Dubai, seven in Sharjah, two each in Ajman and Umm Al-Qaiwain, five in Ras Al-Khaimah, and three in Fujairah.

A roll of 330 candidates includes 87 women.

The final list of candidates is as follows: 89 from Abu Dhabi, 60 from Dubai, 61 from Sharjah, 41 from Ras Al Khaimah, 23 from Ajman, 20 from Umm Al-Qaiwain, and 36 from Fujairah. There are 74 women contesting from all the Emirates.

Meanwhile, NEC said Friday that up to 52 per cent of members in the Electoral College are men while women make up the remaining 48 per cent.

Emirati women have major roles in the country. A female Emirati air force pilot has become the first Arab woman which has taken part in the U.S.-led bombing campaign against ISIS in Syria.

The seven-emirate Gulf country is currently witnessing at least a 57 percent increase of voters’ participation in comparison to 2011 election where there were 129,000 eligible voters, and just 6,000 in its first election in 2006.

The UAE widened political participation after the Arab Spring series of revolutions hit the region in 2011. However, the Gulf state is still wary of Islamist-radical elements in the region and in response it introduced sweeping new counterterrorism legislation last year.

The UAE has more than 9 million population in which Emirati nationals make up about 1.4 million.

Related articles across the web

• 76 women to run in UAE's upcoming parliament polls
• YEMEN: ' Twenty two UAE soldiers killed trying to recapture capital Saana cause being investigated - Reports '
• UAE- FNC candidates must be ready to serve: paper
• In Yemen, UAE Troops Push Toward Rebel-held Capital
• Coalition attacks Yemen capital after UAE, Saudi soldiers killed | Reuters
• Sources: Dubai Ruler's Son Killed in Yemenis' Attack in Ma'rib
• UAE says 22 of its soldiers killed in Yemen
• Research and Markets: Overview Of The Pharmaceutical Market In United Arab Emirates 2015
• Coalition attacks Yemen capital after UAE, Saudi soldiers killed
• UEA parliamentary elections will have more female contenders