JEDDAH, 7 March 2004 — The Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce & Industry plans to hold elections to its subsidiary committees, a first in the Kingdom.
Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid, the chamber’s chairman, said the elections, likely to be held next month, would be open to all members.
“All members have the right to elect members of the various committees,” the Dammam-based Al-Yaum Arabic daily quoted Al-Rashid as saying.
Every chamber in the Kingdom has different committees looking after the interests of various sectors such as industry, trade, real estate or tourism.
Al-Rashid said some 20 to 25 members would be elected to each committee, depending on what it does. Hitherto members were appointed by the board.
Elections to the board are conducted at some chambers including in Riyadh, Jeddah, the Eastern Province and Abha.
Al-Rashid said the names of the candidates would be ready by the middle of next month and all the members would be invited to cast their ballot.
“The chamber’s role will be to organize and monitor the elections,” the chairman said, adding that such elections would spread to other chambers.
The new polls come ahead of partial municipal council elections scheduled for October. Saudi Arabia announced last October it will hold its first ever elections within a year to elect half the members of new municipal councils.
At the time the council vote was announced, reports also said elections would be held within three years to fill one third of the 120 seats of the Shoura, and that half the members of regional councils would be elected within two years.
But Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, said last month that there would be no elections to the Shoura Council in the foreseeable future.
