JEDDAH, 1 November — Al-Taawun candidates won a sweeping victory in the elections to the board of directors of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry held two days ago. The election results announced early yesterday showed that none of the rival Al-Tatwir candidates or independents had managed to win, despite their intense campaigning for office over the last several weeks.
Six of the winners represent Jeddah’s business community, while the remaining six represent industrialists in the region.
Al-Taawun’s unprecedented performance was not totally unexpected, as all its candidates are either well-known in business or industrial circles or representatives of the Kingdom’s leading business families.
Following are the successful candidates of the business community in the order of the votes they polled.
Muhammad Abdul Latheef Jameel, Ibrahim Al-Jomaih, Saleh ibn Laden, Muhammad Al-Fadl, Ghassan Al-Suleiman and Ziyad Al-Bassam while the winners from industrial community are Waleed Al-Juffali, Muhammad Al-Esai, Abdullah Xenel, Abdullah Saleh Kamil, Muhammad Obaid ibn Zagr and Amr Al-Dabbagh.
This year’s election was also marked by a lack of enthusiasm on the part of the voters as only 2,000 out of a total of 14,000 eligible voters turned up to vote. According to the JCCI regulations, every voter should have renewed his subscription six months before the election date.
The election was also conspicuous for the absence of women voters. On the first day of elections a woman voter was sent back advising her to come on the next day as a portion of the second day was set aside for women. One of the causes that might have led to the cold approach toward election was the ministry’s ban on the practice of voters authorizing others to vote on their behalf. The ministry ordered the ban following complaints that this facility led to some malpractice during earlier elections.
The announced result will become official only after the Ministry of Commerce approves it. Then the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Industry and Electricity will nominate three members each, to bring the total number of the Council’s members 18. The chairman of the board will subsequently be elected by these members. Several observers are of the opinion that Abdullah Xenel will be the next president.
Ismail Abu Dawood has been serving as the president of the council for the past 35 years. Now he will be appointed as the honorary chairman of the Council for life.
