Jedaie Al-Qahtani, spokesman of the commission, said candidates should obtain special permission from local election committees to carry out election campaigns and publicity. “Candidates should follow certain rules and regulations during campaigns in order to avoid disciplinary action,” he said.

The commission said it had observed a number of illegal practices during the last election when some candidates formed alliances while some others circulated a list of candidates on the basis of tribes and ideological inclinations.

“We reject such practices as they go against the election law and campaign regulations,” the commission said. Candidates are not allowed to carry out any campaign from Sept. 18 to 28.

Al-Qahtani said the largest number of candidates was reported in the Riyadh province with 956, followed by Asir 710, Qassim 488, Jazan 479, Madinah 375, Hail 369, Eastern Province 353, Jeddah 328, Baha 279, Tabuk 254, Al-Jouf 227, Taif 224, Najran 177, Makkah 155, Northern Border Province 140 and Al-Ahsa 99.

Abdul Rahman Al-Dahmash, chairman of the election commission, said only 1.2 million people, who have registered their names, will be able to cast their votes. Among the prospective voters, 397,061 registered their names  this year.

Election centers in different provinces of the Kingdom pointed out that the number of registered voters was very low compared to the population in each province. “The citizens were cool to the registration drive as they were disappointed by the municipal councils’ work during the last term. They had expected that the councils would improve municipal services but it did not happen,” said one analyst.

According to the latest census conducted on April 28, 2010, there are 18,707,576 Saudis including 9,527,173 males representing 50.9 percent and 9,180,403 females. The number of expatriates amounted to 8,429,401 out of whom 5,932,974 were males representing 70.4 percent.

Women are not allowed to vote in the long-delayed municipal elections this year. Saudi Arabia held phased elections for half the seats on municipal councils in 2005 for the first time in over 40 years.