RIYADH: The Kingdom has been closely watching the US presidential elections with a large segment of the public supporting Democratic candidate Barack Obama in yesterday's contest against Republican candidate John McCain.

However, a substantial number of the local political elite, including members of the Shoura Council and senior business executives, appear to favor none of the two, saying there is no difference in both candidates' Middle East policy.

"The main principles of the US foreign policy toward the Middle East would remain unchanged, while there may be some different views in specifics or details," said Dr. Sadaka Yehia Fadil, chairman of the Shoura Council's Foreign Affairs Committee

Fadil, who is a senior Shoura member, said the results of the race to the White House would have no major impact on issues affecting the Middle East in particular and the world in general.

Media reports say that Obama, who has captured the US imagination with his message of change, has a very definite foreign policy agenda.

In a recent interview he indicated that the US under his presidency would play a more active role in solving problems across the world.

"But, once elected, you know, the individual's personal touches and views are largely marginalized or diluted because of the set principles of state institutions," said Fadil.

Osama Kurdi, another Shoura member, supported Fadil's view.

"Saudi Arabia, or for that matter the Middle East as a whole, should not expect major changes in terms of foreign policy and treatment after the new American president is named," he said.

"Whoever wins, his hands will be full of domestic issues and the priority will be in extricating America from a very bad recession. This will probably take 24 months of his term before he looks more intimately to global issues," said Kurdi.

The new president, according to Kurdi, would try to stabilize the US economy first than try to help solve crises in other parts of the world.

All Saudi Arabic and English dailies, as well as television channels, are devoting large portions of their time to the subject, while political commentators say Arab public opinion across much of the Middle East was widely in favor of Obama.

Sheikh Ahmed Saeed Ali Al-Salman, chief of Hana Al-Meshari Company, said most Gulf nationals wish Obama good luck.

"Seven out of 10 Saudis, if asked to vote today, would cast their ballots in favor of the first African-American presidential candidate Obama."

Asked about the general mood among Saudis and the local media, Ali Al-Zahrani, a teacher and journalist, said Saudis are keenly watching the elections.

He added that Asharq Alawsat, in its Monday edition, ran a caricature of Obama and McCain wielding clubs and preparing to beat an Arab man - an indication that neither candidate will be good for Arabs.

The majority of expatriates in the Kingdom are mixed in their reactions to the elections.

Asked how the politics of the subcontinent would be affected by the new president, S.M.I. Hassan, a senior Indian executive working for Saudi Allianz Insurance Company, said, "The next US president would focus first on domestic problems including the recession before thinking of problems in South Asia or the Middle East."

He pointed out that Washington's $1 trillion fiscal deficit forecast for 2008 could hardly be ignored by either Obama or McCain.

Referring to the euphoria created by the elections, Bakhtiyar Khan, a senior PR consultant, said, "Everyone, who has a little interest in global politics, is keenly observing the US elections.

Being at the forefront of almost everything from politics to the economy, when it comes to the US elections, the world doesn't go to sleep until the new American president is sworn in."

Africans in the Kingdom are also watching the election closely as Obama is of an African background. Mara Idris, an African taxi driver, answered in the affirmative when asked whether he knows Obama.

Westerners in Riyadh are also upbeat to know who the new president is as early as possible.

"Whoever wins will inherit a list of challenges that include the global economic crisis, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the problems of the Middle East," said a Western diplomat who did not want to be named.