RIYADH, 8 February 2005 — A group of Saudi journalists gathered around a table and was amazed while looking at a picture of one of the candidates of the Riyadh municipal elections.
The journalists appeared to be amazed by the huge number of ads the candidate placed not only in the press but on the streets of Riyadh as well.
The candidate at whom they were pointing had reportedly invested more than SR4 million into his campaign. With his ads in almost every stand in the city, the candidate’s picture has become so familiar that he has become the talk of the town though talk was not what he was after.
At his tent the candidate gave out water with his picture ad on the bottles which, unfortunately, gave people something to joke about.
“I guess people here are not familiar with seeing candidates stick their pictures on bottles, it’s just something to talk about,” said one Saudi journalist.
The candidate, who is in his late 30s, is the CEO of five companies owned by his family. Due to the huge amount of money the candidate put into his campaign, police had to come and split the visitors who have gathered at his tent to participate in the cultural and religious programs he presented.
More than 2,500 men and women gathered on Sunday at that candidate’s tent to attend a lecture given by Sheikh Ayed Al-Qarni.
After the lecture, entitled “Yes for the Elections”, ended, there were rumors about the purpose behind the lecture.
Sheikh Ayed scotched all rumors and denied that he received any gifts after his lectures related to the elections. The candidate then announced that he had no plans to “buy” votes from people. “I will not bribe anyone to vote for me, it’d be against my ethics,” the candidate said.
