As there were no political parties at the time of the elections, all candidates ran as independents.

[1] The Federal National Council consists of 40 members, 20 of whom are appointed by the rulers of each emirate.

[2][3] and 20 are elected by single non-transferable vote in seven electoral colleges based on the emirates.

[5] In December 2018, President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued a directive that half the members of the Council should be women.

As a result of the quota system, seven of the 20 elected members were women,[12] although the sole incumbent elected female MP Naama al-Sharhan failed to win re-election in Ras al-Khaimah.