Qataris began voting in the emirate’s first legislative election on Saturday in a symbolic nod to democracy that analysts say will not lead to power shifting away from the ruling family. The vote is for 30 members of the 45-strong Shura Council, a body with limited powers that was previously appointed by the emir as an advisory chamber.

At a polling station in the Jawaan bin Jassim school in the Onaiza district of the capital Doha, Qatari citizens wearing white thobes signed in to vote at a registration desk.