Women will not be given a second chance to vote for the new board of the Asharqia Chamber, the body's election committee said.

This comes in the wake of a poor turnout of women on Sunday, the day allocated for them to cast their ballots in Jubail, Dammam and Abqaiq.

The voting for the 17th board of the chamber ended Thursday.

"All women members had the chance to vote for a whole day. Only 80 women used their right to vote out of 4,000 members registered with the Eastern Province chamber," the committee said in a statement quoted by local media.

Yaha Azzan, chairman of the electoral committee, said women had voted at other branches when only a few men turned up. "It is extremely difficult for women to vote in Dammam center or at the Dhahran International Exhibition Center," he said.

"The day allocated for women ended in less than 30 minutes. We had expected large numbers of women to show up," he said.

He said the Dammam election center handled more than 1,500 voters. This figure would grow to about 3,000 by the end of the elections.

"Qatif electoral center received 700 voters, Jubail 500, Ras Tanura 400, Khafji 180, Abqaiq 130, and Nairiyah 90 voters," said Azzan.

He said the elections had gone smoothly. One thousand voters turned up in the first two hours after the voting opened, he said.

The Dammam and Dhahran electoral centers received large numbers of voters during the first few hours, with fewer people coming after Asr prayers, he said.

The process was characterized by voters arriving in groups to vote for certain candidates. Some turned up in luxury cars and others in buses.

It appeared that most of the groups came out to support five candidates, and that voting took place along tribal lines.

Several candidates claimed that some people were buying votes for a few contenders.

Voters were asked to swear on the Holy Qur'an that they would vote for certain candidates, it was claimed.

Some voters claimed that they were offered money to support some candidates, including having their membership fees paid. Some said they voted for those who paid the most.

Abdulrahman Al-Rashid, former chairman of the chamber, said all businesspeople and the chamber's members should not get involved in these activities.

Al-Rashid said the Asharqia elections were one of the most organized and well attended in the country.

He conceded that there was a poor chance of women making it onto the board, but said this would change in future because more women were now getting involved in business.

He said the chamber would appoint women if the Ministry of Commerce and Industry demands it. However, there was no communication between the ministry and the chamber on this issue.

Earlier this week, several businesswomen urged the ministry to institute a quota for women on the Asharqia board.

Meanwhile, more than 25 foreign investors voted in the elections after the Commerce Ministry gave them clearance to do so.