RIYADH, 4 November 2004 — The Ministry of Municipalities and Rural Affairs has announced that electioneering for the Kingdom’s forthcoming municipal elections should be conducted according to a prescribed mode.
Abdullah M. Al-Subail, director of administrative development at the ministry, said the candidates could hold public meetings only at designated places identified by the municipalities concerned. Alternatively, they could use hotels or place ads in newspapers and magazines. Audiovisual means of communications for reaching out to the voters through TV or radio have been declared off-limits. The candidates could focus on municipal issues concerning their area.
Elections in 178 municipal councils in Saudi Arabia are scheduled to be held from Feb. 10 to April 21, 2005 in three stages — the first on Feb. 10 around the capital city of Riyadh, the second in the east and southwest on March 3 and the third, in the north, on April 21. A total of 1,084 seats are up for grabs. Of these, 592 seats will be contested and the balance is to be nominated by the minister of municipal and rural affairs after the elections.
Al-Subail said a committee has been set up to collect data and prepare a preliminary list of candidates who could be considered for nomination to the councils. However, the selection process would begin only after the elections.
“It is the people’s right to elect candidates of their choice. Once the elections are through, the minister will decide on the list of candidates to be nominated to the council. The idea is to have a good mix of qualified and experienced members in the council in terms of its requirements,” he observed.
Asked whether the municipal elections were modeled on the experience of other countries, the official said some input had come from UN experts. The whole thrust of the exercise was to have representatives who could best serve their constituencies. “The government is serious about filling up the councils with the right candidates,” Al-Subail said.
Meanwhile, a Riyadh-based specialized communications company has unveiled plans for holding a specialized training workshop for candidates. According to Muhammad Al-Omar, executive director of Rawna for Specialized Communications, the workshop is intended to groom candidates for the elections by focusing on personality development and image-building.
He said it would teach them how to run a successful campaign and draw up the electoral program. “The workshop will employ a large number of experts specialized in the field of communications. We have brought in experts from the Gulf states that have experience in holding elections,” he pointed out.
