Take a look at consultative council just advised:

DUBAI (AFP) – Academics and members of the appointed consultative council in the United Arab Emirates came out in favor of elections in the Persian Gulf state, arguing that it could not stay out of the regional trend toward elected bodies.

When millions of Arabs in Palestine, Iraq and Saudi Arabia have gone to the polls, the UAE cannot continue to lag behind, Professor Abdul Khaleq Abdullah of the UAE University told the English-language daily Khaleej Times.

“I strongly support the idea of having elected members” in the Federal National Council, said Khalifa Jumma al-Naboda, who sits on the 40-strong FNC, which is appointed by the rulers of the seven emirates making up the UAE.

Fellow member Mohammad bin Ali al-Nagbi told the same newspaper he would support elections as long as they were decided from within and were not imposed by external pressure. Atiq Daka, a professor of political science at the UAE University, told AFP: “Our country is now the only member of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) which has yet to catch up with the political opening up under way in the Arab world. Even countries we thought incapable of political change, such as Saudi Arabia, are now ahead of us.”

I think it’s a bit like Dave S. over at No Easy Answers said:

Holy crap! These guys are talking like it’s some sort of competition to be the best democracy and to be it before anybody else. Next thing you know, they’re gonna be a bunch of captialist Republicans over there!

Right on.