DAMMAM: The newly elected and appointed members of the Eastern Province chamber will meet on Sunday to elect a president and two vice presidents from their ranks.
The front-runners for the top posts are Abdulrahman Al-Rashed, Ibrahim Al-Jomaih, Khaled Al-Qahtani and Abdulhadi Al-Zaabi. However, the likelihood of Al-Rashed, the current president, becoming the chamber chief again is very high.
“He has everything going in his favor,” said an influential businessman. “He has done a fairly good job as the chamber president on two previous occasions. He has experience on his side.”
There is no bar to the number of terms one can serve as the chamber president. Al-Rashed, Al-Jomaih, Al-Qahtani and Al-Zaabi have all made their intentions public. They want to head the chamber and are openly seeking support of the other members.
According to one well-informed businessman, however, it is not Arab tradition to choose those who publicly announce their intentions for a particular job. “Rather the mantle goes to those who have chosen not to announce their candidature,” he said.
In such a situation, he feels, the members may be inclined to look at a different candidate altogether. “Abdullah Al-Ammar, who has not expressed his wish to be the president, may therefore stand a good chance. He is widely respected as a businessman; he comes from a good family and belongs to the prominent Al-Khalidi tribe. More important, he has collected the highest number of votes,” the businessman said.
In last month’s elections, Al-Ammar topped the list of 12 winners with 833 votes. Al-Rashed was at No. 3 with 653 votes though everybody had thought he would bag the maximum number of votes. Al-Jomaih was at No. 4 with 610 votes.
Technically, Hana Al-Zuhair and Samira Al-Suwaigh, the two women who were among the six government appointees, can also be considered for the chamber presidency. That they might not be able to collect a sufficient number of votes to back them is another story. Also, there is no difference between those who have been elected and those who have been appointed. Ever since elections were introduced, the chamber presidency has conventionally gone to the elected members.
However, the appointment of Saleh Kamil as the Jeddah chamber president has changed the way things operate. Kamil was actually appointed by the government to the Jeddah chamber board.
Among the six government appointees, the young Abdullah Al-Zamil is rated very highly by the business community. “There are many people in our community who want to see change. They want to see young businessmen take the reins of the chamber. What better person can there be than Abdullah Al-Zamil?” asked a pro-change businessman.
There can be no two opinions that the Al-Zamils are hugely respected. Their contribution to Saudi business is immense and they enjoy a great deal of good will among wide range of Saudis.
“We will get to know who will be the next Asharqia Chamber president on Sunday,” said journalist Ibrahim Al-Saad. “Till then, we will see hectic lobbying.”
