Several young and fresh candidates have emerged winners in the elections for the Eastern Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Asharqia).

Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed, veteran leader of Eastern chamber, secured the highest number of votes but women failed to obtain enough votes to find seats on the board of directors.

Yahya Azzan, a senior official of the Ministry of Commerce who supervised the process, told Arab News that “the elections were conducted over five days with total transparency.”

He said the ministry would nominate six members to the board of directors.

He said Al-Rashed secured the highest number of votes. Al-Rashed, who resisted pressure to step aside to encourage the younger generation, has won with a huge majority, silencing his opponents.

It is widely expected that he will lead the Asharqia chamber for fourth time. Al-Rashed became the chamber’s president for the first time in 2002.

Faisal Abdullah Fuad (734 votes), Abdul Hakim Al-Ammar (724 votes) and Mohammed Al-Dosari (696 votes) are among those who gained the highest number of votes.

Abdulaziz Othman, Rashed Abdullah Al-Rashed, Faisal Al-Qureshi, Ghardan Saeed Ghardan, Abdul Mohsen Faraj, Abdul Rahman Al-Ataishan, Bandar Al-Jabri, Hasan Zahrani are the other winning candidates.

The two women — Muna Al-Baoud and Fawziya Al-Kari — lost the elections. Fawziya Kari polled 25 votes while Muna Al-Baoud received 70 votes.

Twenty-one candidates contested for 12 seats on the board of directors.