Voter registration in 300 centers in the Kingdom started on April 23 and will last for 27 days.
“Only 352 citizens have registered for voting over the week from April 23 to 28 in the city of Hail,” said Mayor of Hail Abdul Aziz Al-Toub, who is also chairman of the province’s election committee.
However, Al-Toub put the number of registered voters in villages and towns outside Hail at 7,679.
The mayor attributed the low number to there being few registration offices within the city. He also hoped people would turn up in large numbers for registration over the next few days.
Meanwhile, a citizen in Yanbu has been frank about his low estimation of the elected members in the present municipal councils. “People’s participation in the municipal elections is going to be very low because they have lost confidence in municipal councils. It is because the present councilors, who have been in office for six years, never cared to fulfill the promises they made during the election nor did they do anything to solve the problems faced by those who elected them,” said Saleh Al-Harbi, a citizen.
On the other hand, Dakhil Al-Johani, chairman of the Voter Registration Committee in Al-Ais, a town under the Yanbu governorate, said people were visiting registration offices in large numbers. He attributed this to the close family and social affiliation of people in the town.
Juday Al-Qahtani, spokesman for the municipal elections, appealed to all eligible citizens to register their names without delay.
Registration centers will be open on all days except Fridays.
There are seven registration centers in Jeddah and 15 in nearby governorates.
