The municipal elections have ended. During the election campaign, some candidates proposed realistic programs while others just offered voters empty promises. Many voters from villages cast their votes in last week's elections, the second to be held for the municipal councils, while others, especially in the cities, refrained from voting. Observers noted that older people were more enthusiastic to vote than were the young. We must benefit from our experiences in the two municipal elections to improve the procedures in the next polls, which are scheduled to be held in 2015. The election fever has ended and the period for challenging the election results has started. Some challenges are based on objective grounds and some candidates who filed them are calling for an investigation into alleged violations committed by rival candidates during the campaign period. On the other hand, some of these challenges are merely attempts by some losing candidates to raise doubts about the credibility of the election results. For those who file nuisance challenges, it is most likely a case of sour grapes that they lost. This gives the Committee for Challenges of Election Results the daunting task of looking carefully into the validity of the challenges and of protecting the election process against those who are trying to undermine the election results. The municipal council elections are a tool to enable the public to choose the right candidates to represent them on the council and serve the public interest. The challenges must be carefully scrutinized so that the candidates chosen by the people as their representatives are the ones who sit on municipal councils. The committee must see to it that the will of the people is respected and that their interests are protected. __
