JEDDAH, 21 April 2005 — The business city of Jeddah will go to the polls today with the rest of the Western Region to elect new municipal councils in Saudi Arabia’s historic democratic exercise.
As many as 548 candidates are contesting for seven Jeddah seats, pinning their hopes on some 80,000 registered voters.
Saudis in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah as well as Taif, Qasim, Hail, Tabuk, Al-Jouf and the Northern Border Region also go to polls today in the third and final phase of elections, which began in the Central Region on Feb. 10.
Jeddah mayor and chief election officer Adel Faqeeh yesterday called upon all registered voters to head to polling stations to cast their ballots.
“Casting of vote not only reflects the awareness of the voter but also emphasizes the success of the election experiment in the Kingdom,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted the mayor as saying.
He said all preparations have been completed for the election in Jeddah and nearby governorates of Rabigh, Khalees, Kamil, Qunfuda and Laith. “Arrangements have been made to help voters cast their ballots quickly without causing congestion,” he added.
The elections, considered one of the major political reforms, are meant to fill half the seats of 178 municipal councils across the country. The government will appoint the remaining members.
Saudi women have been excluded from the ballot this time but authorities have promised that they would take part in the next elections scheduled for 2009. They cited technical and administrative problems for the current ban.
A total of 244 seats are up for grabs in today’s elections. In all, more than 4,600 candidates are courting the votes of some 333,000 Saudi men aged over 21 who have registered to cast their ballots, according to official estimates.
Election authorities, meanwhile, rejected a complaint lodged by 21 candidates against seven contestants that they had illegally won the endorsement of popular religious scholars in the country.
“We did not find evidence that the seven candidates violated election rules,” said Omar Al-Khuli, one of three legal experts charged with ruling on election disputes in Jeddah. The seven are running separately in the seven constituencies of the city, but they have been dubbed the “golden list” after prominent religious scholars such as Sheikh Safar Al-Hawali “vouched for them” via Internet statements and other channels.
“They did not present solid evidence that the seven formed a coalition. Endorsement per se does not constitute a violation,” Khuli said. “All the seven have totally denied that there was any sort of support or coordination among them in their election programs or campaigns,” an official statement issued by the panel said.
“It’s good that there is an impartial mechanism for people to lodge complaints. This is healthy,” commented Abdul Rahman Yamani, one of the seven candidates whose candidacy was challenged by rivals.
Yamani, an industrial and systems engineering graduate from Stanford and Florida universities, said his name had appeared on six informal “lists” backed by different people, which showed he was effectively not into any coalition.
But he implicitly chided liberals who have been critical of Islamists or complained that Islamic scholars are trying to dictate to voters. “Businessmen and the intellectual elite of Jeddah took a negative attitude toward the ballot, because they believe it will not change much. Now they are complaining that religious people came together. They should have been more proactive themselves,” Yamani said.
Another candidate in Jeddah said he planned to file a lawsuit against the local branch of the election committee on charges that someone in the committee had “leaked” the names and mobile phone numbers of registered voters.
“This information should be either confidential or available to everyone. As it is, it reached companies which distribute SMS text messages, who then offered to circulate messages for candidates for more than $15,000,” Musaed Al-Khamis said.
Khamis, who runs a documentary production company, said he had proof of his claim, including messages from firms offering their services, and he intended to take his case to authorities.
But the panel looking into complaints said it was impossible to know or pinpoint the agencies that circulate SMS and Internet messages. “There are a lot of companies that provide message services from outside the Kingdom and STC will not be able to stop or chase them,” the panel said.
Several Saudis have vowed that they will withdraw support to candidates who bombard them with text messages seeking their votes. Candidates in Jeddah have spent more than SR100 million on campaigning, especially advertising. “The cost of the tent of the candidate I’m working for was SR200,000 for seven days only, in addition to all the needed equipment,” a campaign manager said.
“These prices don’t include the meals served at these tents,” said another campaign official. “Usually they serve lamb, cooked in different ways, on huge round trays of rice. The price of a tray is between SR800 and SR1,200 and some candidates are serving 3-5 trays every evening,” he explained.
