JEDDAH, 30 November 2005 — Elections by their very nature are contentious. The balloting for the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry (JCCI) board of directors that concluded yesterday was no exception as candidates are crying foul over their opponents’ behavior and election rules get a variety of interpretations.
Challenges to some of the unwritten but assumed rules began Saturday night when a group of businessmen and women appeared on a satellite television channel for a live debate. A more serious dilemma happened on Monday morning, the first day for the men to vote, when the woman from the Future group showed up at its campaign tent. Throughout the four days of voting, accusations flew of illegalities and the candidates threatened to lodge complaints.
At the television debate, members of the Small Establishments group and businessmen running as independents as well as a few businesswomen discussed issues concerning the elections, the chamber and the problems businessmen and women face. Members of the other groups also were scheduled to appear on the program, but when official sources from the election supervising committee made claims that it was against the rules for the candidates to appear on a television program, they withdrew. However, those who did participate contacted the Ministry of Commerce directly and received approval.
“I participated as an independent candidate to present myself to a wider audience because I couldn’t compete against the wealthier and more established businessmen in spending for my campaign,” said Maher Bundagji.
To him, one of the main problems of the chamber is that a few businessmen with influence continue to dominate it and its board and doesn’t allow any opportunity for the younger generation to step in. He criticized the amounts of money spent and the way that candidate representatives cajoled voters for support. Some candidates made accusations of bribery and vote-buying for as much as SR5,000 taking place before and during the election.
Amani Abdul Wasae of the all-women group Al-Awael was among those who participated in the television debate. “The ministry clarified to us that it does not permit personal television campaigns, but it did not disapprove of a television discussion on the election in general, and it did not disapprove of us women appearing on the program,” said Amani.
The program had a positive influence on the women who saw it because more of them showed up the next day to vote.
“I said that women lacked awareness and interest about the elections and the voting, and we were surprised when many of them came on Sunday because of what I said,” she told Arab News.
Madawi Al-Hassoun made another bold, albeit controversial, appearance when she showed up at her group’s campaign tent among the thousands of male voters.
“I was only assisting in preparing the Future group’s tent in the morning, and I didn’t stay long, but there is nothing in the rules that prevents me from being there,” Al-Hassoun told Arab News.
It was not for publicity, she claimed, but what made the newspaper headlines was that an altercation happened between her and representatives of the Al-Awael group. She claims that the representatives were distributing their group’s brochures inside her group’s tent and they were crossing out her name from the list of candidates on the brochures.
“I asked them to leave because they had no right to be there, if the women wanted a tent during the men’s voting days they should have done so,” she said.
Amani, however, said that they had an understanding with the men of the Future group to allow their representatives to distribute their brochures inside the group’s tent, but the men didn’t tell Al-Hassoun of that arrangement. She also denies the rumor that the representatives were crossing Al-Hassoun’s name because the voting ballots were inside the chamber’s halls and could not be accessed outside.
“We didn’t wish to be among the thousands of men voting out of respect for our conservative traditions even if it isn’t against the rules,” Amani said.
