RIYADH, 5 March 2005 — Repoll will be held in two constituencies of Hafr Al-Batin in the Northern Province today following storming of the polling booths by voters.
Speaking from Hafr Al-Batin, Turki Faisal Al-Rashid, webmaster of www.saudielection.com, told Arab News that the voters, mostly bedouins, stormed the election booths inside two Saudi schools demanding repoll for their candidates.
“There was utter chaos. They snatched everything inside the booths. We also heard about various irregularities,” said Al-Rashed, who was caught in the melee.
He said the Central Election Commission decided to hold re-election in the two constituencies following booth snatching and other violations of the election laws. Overall, voting took place at eight locations in the region, of which six went off smoothly.
Only 3,250 out of 21,000 registered voters went to the polls in Hafr Al-Batin on Thursday.
According to Hebshi Al-Shammari, a Saudi journalist who also monitored the municipal elections in Al-Khafji, a record 89.3 percent of the 2,793 registered voters cast their ballots. The turnout in a second constituency was 87.9 percent. “This was the highest voter turnout in the Saudi elections so far,” he told Arab News.
Asked if he noticed any irregularities, Hebshi said the only one that came to light was a loose and informal electoral alliance among the candidates to win support for themselves.
Thursday’s polling was the second round of a three-stage election process that began with Riyadh region on Feb. 10. In the final phase of balloting, the Western Region as well as the Northern Frontier regions will go to the polls on April 21.
The ballot is open to men aged over 21 except military personnel. Women are not included this time around.
