ASYAH, 28 April 2005 — Saud Nahar Al-Mutairy is the first Saudi journalist to win a seat in the Kingdom’s municipal council elections which concluded last Thursday.
Al-Mutairy clinched the first seat in the Asyah Municipality with the highest number of votes (424) followed by Saleh Rashed Al-Fuhaid (239) and Naser Saleh Al-Fuhaid (228). The Asyah governorate in the east of Qassim region voted on Thursday in the third and final phase of the nationwide polls.
Al-Mutairy is working as a journalist for Al-Riyadh Arabic newspaper. “It is a decisive victory by all means,” he told Arab News pointing to the big margin between the first and second places in Asyah.
A total of 1,409 people cast their votes in Asyah, said Abdul Aziz Al-Hudayyani, the head of the Asyah election committee. “That represented 89 percent of registered voters in Asyah,” he added.
Al-Mutairy attributed his clear win of the election to his journalistic contributions in the Asyah region. “I have always acted the role of a municipal councilor by reporting objectively all the concerns and problems of the people of Asyah,” he explained. “I am very grateful for all those who voted for me.”
True to his words, Al-Mutairy’s main motto during his campaign was: “I have always acted the role of a municipal councilor.” He had used some cuttings and samples of his news stories he had written during his 19-year-long career as a reporter.
“I did not vote for myself,” he confessed saying that he gave all the three votes he had to three other candidates he believed deserved to win the seats on the municipal council. “I know that I have the right to vote for myself but one vote does not really make a big difference,” he explained.
“I voted for Saud Al-Mutairy because he brought our problems to the attention of the authorities,” said Awwad Al-Harbi, a citizen of Deedah, a town north of Asyah. Al-Mutairy had written stories highlighting lack of water and other civil amenities in the town.
