Many citizens said they were not as enthusiastic about going to go to polls as they were six years ago when the first election for half of the municipal council members took place.
In the Eastern Province, voter registration began at 89 electoral centers with a considerable number of people arriving to register their names. Muhammad Al-Sufyan, director of public relations at Dammam mayoralty, said elections would be held to 21 municipal councils in the region. "Voting is important as it provides citizens an opportunity to participate in the decision-making," he said.
The Municipal and Rural Affairs Ministry has launched a media campaign to make the election a success.
The registration process will continue for 27 days.
The ministry said there were minor changes in the conditions for taking part in the election this time, compared to the previous one. Every male citizen over the age of 21 is eligible. Those who want to register as voters should produce their national identity cards.
A physically handicapped person can authorize somebody to register his name and vote on his behalf. Persons having Shariah-approved reasons can also authorize others.
Local committees have stepped up preparations for the election, including monitoring of election campaigns. They have held several meetings to organize the election properly after identifying polling booths in different constituencies.
In Hail province, for example, election preparations started very early. It held a seminar on the importance of a media campaign to encourage the public to participate. There are 29 polling stations in the province, including 10 in Hail city.
The committee said those who have registered for the first election need not do it again. “But those who have moved their residence to another constituency are required to update their information,” it said.
In Jeddah, the election committee will be open to receive registrants from Saturday to Wednesday 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
There are seven constituencies in Jeddah and 15 in major townships around the city. Jeddah has 47 polling stations and 17 in nearby towns.
In Makkah, registration of voters began on Saturday. Makkah Mayor, who is also the chairman of the election committee, said electoral centers have been readied to receive people from 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. He said those voters who have lost their voter registration cards or lost relevant information would be able to retrieve them from the election website by feeding their ID numbers.
There are 28 polling stations in Makkah’s seven constituencies. About 300 officials have been appointed to register voters in Makkah.
Othman Abubakar Mali, head of the media and awareness team, said the registration of voters will take place in all centers in a transparent manner, adding that the process would be open to the media. “We have distributed a number of booklets to enlighten the public about the municipal council elections,” he said.
