DAMMAM, 24 February 2006 — After making inroads in the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry elections last year, businesswomen failed to win a single seat on the board of directors of the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry, election for which were held this week. The results to the election were announced in the wee hours yesterday with ten of the 12 members winning re-election.
Out of 48 candidates, 12 have been elected to form the administrative board in the chamber, including six traders and six manufacturers. There were not too many surprises in the results as the Al-Tawwun group bagged nine of the 12 seats. Ittihad Al-Sharqiya (Eastern Alliance) took the other three seats. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry will nominate six additional members from commercial establishments and industry to constitute an 18-member board.
Those who won the elections from Al-Tawwun group included Abdul Rahman Rashid Al-Rashid, the president of the chamber, Maan Al-Sanea, the chamber’s vice president, Khaled Abdul Karim Al-Qahtani, Saud Algosaibi, Zamil Al-Zamil, Salman Al-Jishi, Eissa Al-Dossary, Rashed Al-Swaiket and Ayed Al-Qahtani. The three winners in Ittihad Al-Sharqiya group are: Khaled Al-Qahtani, Yusuf Al-Dossary and Abdullah Al-Ammar. Ayed Al-Qahtani and Yusuf Al-Dossary are the only new faces.
The businesswomen who ran for office put a brave face and said that the results were not unexpected. “Our participation in the polls... is our real victory. We have made our presence felt,” said candidate Nadia Al-Dosarry. “Now we have to move ahead with new motivation and determination, and achieve our goal.” All hope is not lost that women might be appointed to at least one of the six chairs of assigned members on the board.
Some of the candidates said that they were not disappointed by the results but surely disappointed with the lack of response. Voter turnout was 38 percent out of a total electorate of 11,000, which chamber officials say is the highest turnout on record.
Out of 417 eligible women voters, 72 businesswomen entered the chamber on Monday to vote. Thirty of them were turned away because their papers were not renewed.
“The turnout isn’t bad when compared to the turnout in Riyadh. About 10 percent of the businesswomen voted (in Dammam) compared to only about 3 percent in Riyadh,” said Laila Al-Arifi, one of the candidates.
Yahia Al-Quraish, a candidate coordinator, thinks that there was great competition between frontrunner Tawwun and second-running Ittihad Al-Sharqiya. “About 81 percent of businessmen in Qatif voted for Tawwun, and this caused the sudden change in the results,” said Salman Al-Jishi, one of the winning candidates. “Members of Tawwun have a great history in helping people in need, and for that nine of them were able to reach the board through election.”
The process of the constitution of a new board will commence next week. The elected members will be endorsed by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and then all the members will meet to elect a new president and two vice presidents.
