JEDDAH, 15 March 2005 — The number of voters registered in Makkah for the April 21 municipal elections is presently lower than in other cities. Officials, however, expect numbers to pick up by tomorrow, the last day for registration.
Out of 80,000 eligible male voters, only 20,198 had registered by March 10. But since then the number has increased considerably. On Sunday, a record number of 1,794 voters, the highest in a single day, registered their names bringing the total number to 23,635 at the end of the day. There are 25 registration centers in Makkah and each has a maximum of 3,200 registration papers and more can be provided if needed.
On March 20, the candidates will begin registering their names and will have four days in which to do so.
Prince Mansour ibn Miteb, president of the General Election Commission, met with the local supervising committee for the municipal poll in Makkah on Sunday for an update on the registration process and the preparations for the next step.
At the press conference following the meeting, Prince Mansour said that the number of registered voters so far has actually exceeded expectations for Makkah. “The turnout for registration in Makkah is acceptable compared to our initial estimates,” said Jamal Hariri, vice president of the local supervising committee for the municipal elections in Makkah.
“If we want to compare one city with another, we have to put things into perspective such as the population,” he said. In terms of numbers, Makkah’s registered voters are few but in terms of percentage, the city is superior to Jeddah which by the end of Saturday has registered 55,193 in its 45 centers.
In Madinah, on the other hand, which has 20 registration centers, the number of men registered as of March 10 was 27,164 with the number expected to climb to 40,000 before tomorrow’s deadline. Makkah residents complain that there has not been enough in the media about the elections and that the awareness campaign has not been equally distributed between neighborhoods which might account for the differences between the numbers registered in the centers.
According to records from the past few days, more men have registered in the northern and eastern parts of the city while the southern and central ones have seen a lower turnout. “Most of the signs advertising the elections are in the more affluent areas and little attention was given to the poorer ones in the south and center,” said Fahd Al-Harbi.
Another resident complained that the media articles were not well-explained or easily understood by the average individual. Such complaints have prompted the committee to strengthen the awareness campaign.
