A press report has described how the first days of voter registration for Saudi Arabia’s first municipal elections proceeded. It stated that at one polling station in the capital city of Riyadh, the room was full of empty chairs with only a few men present. Those happened to be members of the election commission who, the report said, were yawning out of boredom while waiting for the expected long queues of democracy-loving people — but the queues never materialized.
The first round of the Kingdom’s municipal elections to choose half the members of the 178 municipal councils will kick off in February. The nationwide vote will be held in three phases. The government will appoint the half that the people do not elect.
Why should people flock to registration centers, wait in long queues to register their names for the coming elections? Why has there been no buying and selling of votes so far and no one injured or jailed? Why were the expectations of those who described the election as a process for defusing political pressure in which all that was needed was to remove the lid from the boiling pot and release the heat proven wrong?
The doors of polling stations remain wide open with the organizers waiting for the people to show up. Yet people have not come forward in large numbers and that indicates a lack of interest in an important event happening almost for the first time in the country.
The turnout by those wishing to register to vote has been low because elections are essentially new to the country.
People need to know more about the election in order for such experiments to settle and take root. It requires concentrated and widespread awareness campaigns.
Registration is optional rather than mandatory, and for this reason, people have not rushed to register. Since voting is not profitable, unlike the stock market which attracted a million new dealers this year alone, we shouldn’t expect polling stations to swell with people as happens every day at bank counters.
To better understand and appreciate the state of indifference shown by the general public, we should look at all the giant stadiums where clubs fight for a win in spite of poor attendance by fans whose applause and whistles can only be heard thanks to the amplifiers and loudspeakers installed all over the stadium.
Have people been afflicted with boredom to the extent that nothing will arouse their interest? No, people continue to take in their food with politics and to express opinions about almost everything. They do this in their own traditional way. They prefer to sit around television at home or in nearby cafes watching their favorite sports without having the bother of driving long distances in congested streets. The state of indifference and lack of interest has been further exacerbated by the fact that the majority of people are ignorant about election rules; they know nothing about the candidates or the causes for which they are supposed to vote.
Because this is a new experiment, it will take time to prove it is vital in bringing about changes in the political arena. A day will come when there will be long queues extending as far as the eye can see.
It will be an exciting and civilized process, involving as many people as possible and one in which ideas for solving general problems will come up, criticisms heard and live and constructive dialogues held. What is right and what is wrong in politics will then be up for discussion.
It is important for the experiment to begin and proceed smoothly as long as it does not give rise to any of the undesired conditions associated with such an exercise.
