JEDDAH, 17 February 2005 — There has been low voter registration in south Jeddah, Al-Madinah Arabic newspaper reported yesterday.
Saud Al-Otaibi, manager of an election center in the area, said only 33 voters had registered by the close of the first day on Tuesday. He said the centers were fully prepared and ready to register eligible voters.
Abdullah Al-Subail, a member of the Election Committee, urged eligible voters to come to the centers and register and to bring their friends with them.
In addition, officials at registration and voting centers complain of a lack of training which could embarrass them in front of citizens who are applying for a voter’s card.
Muhammad Al-Amri, an assistant head at one center, said the media campaign had been poor and that many citizens did not know the difference between voters and candidates. “Employees at election centers should have received at least one day’s training. I have experience working for the census and I will use that in dealing with and registering voters,” he said.
Many south Jeddah residents believe that the low turnout is due to the poor awareness campaign in that part of the city. A good number of residents are unaware of voter registration since most advertisements are on main streets and near traffic lights. They also allege that in north Jeddah there has been more advertising and that voter registration has consequently been high.
One south Jeddah resident said the brochures that were distributed were unclear about what was going on. “Most people did not understand the sentence ‘Your voice will never be heard if you do not register it.’ Most of our election information came from newspapers. Even the TV advertising was unclear and did not provide the public easily understandable information about the nature and timing of the elections,” he said.
Another resident of south Jeddah said: “The election campaign did not cover all of Jeddah. We only got information from newspapers. Most people probably will not participate in the election because they do not know the services that municipal councils provide for them. We should all participate and make sure that this national experience is successful.”
