As many as 816 members have been elected from 5,323 candidates in civic polls held on Sept. 29. The list of 1,632 municipal council members published on the ministry’s website included both elected and appointed members. The ministry has withheld the results of two councils in Remah and Reen pending the completion of official procedures.
Jedaie Al-Qahtani, spokesman of the Election Commission, said the number of municipal council members increased from 1,212 in the previous session to 1,632.
“There are two reasons for this increase. One is the increase in the number of municipal councils from 179 to 285 as a result of converting rural centers to municipalities. The second reason is increasing the minimum number of members to six,” he pointed out.
Al-Qahtani said there were 855 polling stations in the country this year against 631 in the previous election. He said preparations for the Sept. 29 elections began a year ago. Women have not participated in this election, but Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah said they would be allowed to participate in the coming election as both voters and candidates.
“Some members in the past councils were successful in winning this election while some had failed. This resulted in bringing new faces to the body,” the spokesman said, adding that the winners were successful in reaching out to their voters. He said people voted for candidates who are capable of improving municipal services.
He said the elected members have an opportunity to take part in the decision-making process.
