Ali called me yesterday, spewing off a vitriolic burst against what he saw as a gross manipulation of the recently held Jeddah Municipality elections. He was incensed that all the candidates in the so-called “Golden List” were elected.
“You know Tariq, there’s no place for radicals in the municipality. They shouldn’t have been elected, period! But by getting themselves quickly endorsed by some religious scholars, as reported in some sections of the press, they capitalized on the minds of naive voters and secured their seats. They will set us back decades. I shudder to think what their first act in the new council would be.”
“Ali, if there have been any manipulations of the voting process or if there is proven without doubt to be any fraud in the matter, I am sure the Voting Grievance Committee will act upon it, and may well nullify the results.”
“You’re so ignorant, Tariq. You think the Grievance Committee will dare go up against this coalition of candidates. I’ll bet you they won’t, and the matter will soon be forgotten. Even though some of the losing candidates have raised legal contention, I will assure you that it will all be in vain. This is all so bizarre.”
“Well, Ali, regardless of who endorsed their nominations, these candidates must have run an effective campaign to win those votes. I know of several losing candidates who simply banked on their names or fortune to get themselves elected, and boy were they surprised. They assumed that that would be enough to get them through. Now if you are serious about getting yourself somewhere, wouldn’t you be just as serious as preparing for it?”
“Tariq, you don’t seem to be perturbed at all. Just wait till these people get into your neighborhood and see for yourself the extraordinary demands they will impose on you.”
“Don’t be so dramatic, Ali. They do not make up the whole Municipal Council. There are an equal number of appointees selected by the government. The democratic process must decide any city laws passed. And besides, I doubt if their concerns would be so shallow. Granted, they were backed by some scholars. But that does not necessarily make them a threat to the rest of us.”
“And while I saw the ‘Golden List’ circulated prior to the elections Ali, I honestly did not vote for any of them. But sadly my nominees were not as well prepared, nor had they made any extraordinary efforts to get their platforms across a wider audience. The winners did, not only because of the endorsements but also because of the detailed preparations they took to ensure that they got their voters to the polling booths. And trust me, there was no arm-twisting of any voter to vote for them. I am an example. I was not swayed by their endorsement. And you must be one too Ali, seeing how you are so angry?”
“Me? I boycotted the whole election process. I think it’s all a farce to expect anything from this council. Just a bunch of power-hungry people who are going to enforce their views upon the rest of us, while making their wallets fatter,” retorted Ali.
“You know Ali,” I chided him. “After George Bush was elected back in November 2004, I received a lot of e-mails from Americans lamenting his victory. They were saddened and dejected, some even contemplating a permanent move to Canada. When I wrote some of them back asking if they had voted for Kerry, they responded that they too were sick of all these self-serving politicians and why bother. They simply stayed away from the polling booths on that day in November.
“And you know what my answer was to these folk? I simply told them that they had voted for Mr. Bush. Just as you have voted for these men in the city council by abstaining. If you don’t exercise your right and cast your voice in the forum provided for what you believe in, then should you have the right to react the way you are doing now?
“Just let it go for now, Ali, and learn to live with it. Perhaps when the next elections come around you will realize that your voice can and will make a difference. But only if you exercise it at the polling booth on Election Day.”
