MADINAH, 25 February 2005 — A 104-year-old Saudi in Madinah, Mohammed Awwad, has turned the table on the municipal election commission which states that the voter should not be under 21 and over 100 years. He sprang a surprise on the poll officials at the election center No. 440 in Abdul-Aziz Al-Rabe’e secondary school when Awwad showed up there to register himself as a voter. Besides, the computer was refusing to record his name as he was above 100 years old. The technical group insisted on changing the entire program to enable the computer to record all voters above 21 years without an upper age limit. Meanwhile in Jeddah, 101-year-old Ahmad Al-Garni has registered himself as a voter in the forthcoming elections. The chief of the election center No. 475 north of Jeddah said Al-Garni was keen to participate in the poll which he saw as his national duty. Moreover, Al-Garni encourages the youth to participate in the balloting in order to serve their country. He also said that he intends to get married although he is too old “so that my children and grand children will participate in the service of the country.”
