JEDDAH, 23 April 2005 — With official results of the third and last phase of the Kingdom’s first municipal elections expected today, the names of some winning candidates in Madinah and Tabuk constituencies were announced by the local election commission.
In Jeddah, candidates endorsed by religious scholars looked set for victory, mirroring Islamist wins in other cities, candidates said.
Official results from Thursday’s final round of voting in several western and northern regions would be released today by the Municipal Election Commission after going into possible complaints or appeals filed by losing candidates.
The electoral process has been marred by controversy amid complaints that seven candidates were endorsed by religious scholars, a practice that some candidates and analysts said was intended to give leverage to the seven over others.
Analysts are eagerly awaiting the results in Jeddah, the Kingdom’s commercial hub, where competition has been very strong among contenders.
Initial returns from Jeddah polling stations pointed to a win by candidates on an informal “golden list”, believed to be backed by scholars.
But one of the likely winners insisted that the scholars’ backing was just “the icing on the cake” and that Islamist candidates had conducted a more active campaign than their liberal rivals.
“The ‘golden list’ is on course for a sweeping victory,” said Najmeddin Zafer, a businessman and newspaper columnist who ran for one of Jeddah’s seven elected seats.
Zafer admitted that “businessmen and the intellectual elite” — a reference to liberals — failed to organize themselves and effectively looked down on the municipal elections.
“Businessmen and intellectuals were negative, while the Islamists were organized,” he said, noting that Islamists had also won in the capital Riyadh and the main eastern city of Dammam in earlier stages of the municipal elections which began in February.
Abdul Rahman Yamani, one of the projected winners from a field of around 500 hopefuls, said that if the predictions came true, his and his colleagues’ victory would be down to four factors.
“First, we are a religious people by nature, and secular people are not accepted (by society),” he said. “Secondly, voters want competence, and the (likely winners) are first-class professionals.
“Thirdly, they worked hard to organize their campaign. Then came the scholars’ endorsement, which was the icing on the cake,” said Yamani, an engineering graduate from Stanford and Florida universities in the United States.
Rival candidates however failed in an attempt to disqualify those on the “golden list” after experts ruling on election disputes concluded that the seven candidates had not breached the election rules barring formation of electoral alliances.
A total of 244 seats were up for grabs in Thursday’s third round, which completed the election of half the members of 178 municipal councils across the Kingdom. The remaining seats will be filled by the government.
In the holy city of Madinah the local election commission announced the names of winners in 11 centers including the city itself and adjacent areas.
Madinah Deputy Mayor Khaled Faisal, who is also the vice chairman of the election commission, announced the results. In all 32,911 people out of 44,396 eligible voters had cast their ballots.
Abdullah M. Al-Khadem (4,305 votes), Abdul Aziz Al-Wiqaisi (3,908), Hamza Zuhair Hafez (3,751), Abdul Muhsin Al-Ahmadi (5,723 ), Muhammad Al-Maghamsi (5,901), Salah Al-Raddadi (2,792 ) and Muhammad Abdul Aziz Al-Ahmadi (6,720) were declared winners in Madinah constituency.
The winners in Yanbu are: Masoud Al-Jubari (1,101), Khaled Al-Juhani (1,030), Saleh Al-Sayed (756), Hamad Al-Alouni (615) and Ahmad Al-Rifaie (577).
Al-Ula: Ali Musa Abdul Wahed (258), Muhammad Al-Juhani (238), Muhammad Al-Qadi (217) and Abdullah Al-Jarallah (21).
Badr: Muhammad Ateq Al-Subhi (477), Ghzai Muhammad Al-Ruwaithi (444) and Abdul Latif Al-Sobhi (246).
Khaybar: Abdullah Rashid Al-Rashidi (464), Fahd Faleh Al-Rashidi (447) and Abdulah Al-Rashidi (216).
Al-Hunakeya: Muhammad Saqr Al-Makhlafi (522), Abdullah Ghanim Al-Oufi (178) and Sattam Al-Matraq (440).
Mahd: Thuwaini Al-Mutairi (621), Zaid Al-Mutairi (482) and Sattam Al-Matraq (440).
Yanbu Al-Nakhl: Hamdan Ouwada Al-Refaie (266), Abdul Hameed Muhaisin Al-Ahmdai (261) and Awad Al-Jehani (231).
Wadi Farie: Musaied Awad Al-Harbi (401), Nuwafi Authela Al-Jabri (333) and Abdul Rahman Abu Rabaa (319).
Mujama Al-Ees: Dhafer Rashid Al-Juhani (299) and Eid Salama Al-Juhani (191).
Mujama Al-Hasu: Ahmad Eid Al-Mutairi (263) and Hadi Samir Al-Mutairi (250).
Tabuk: Owayed Al-Atawi (3,243), Humaidan Al-Jehani (2,519), Muhammad Al-Anzi (1,713), Ali Al-Balawi (1,435) and Abdul Rahman Al-Balawi (1,370).
