A special task force from Makkah Police has been drafted in to provide security for elections to the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), with voting having already started in Al-Qunfuda, Rabegh and Al-Leith. The officers have been tasked with guarding ballot boxes around the clock and maintaining general security as elections proceed. The election campaigns have been marred by a degree of mudslinging between candidates in Al-Qunfuda, Rabegh and Al-Leith, with some accusing others of drafting in prominent sheikhs and well-known figures to publicly back them in their campaigns. “A well-known person made a speech right outsider the polling center here and called on everyone to vote for his favorite,” said an unnamed candidate in Al-Qunfuda. Other accusations involve attempts to “buy votes” from small businessmen, criticizing candidates who are owners of large enterprises of making “tempting” offers to electors, such as free or discount medical treatment at hospitals. Other election candidates have this year been so concerned with maintaining integrity that they have not even published photographs with election campaign leaflets, while some have opened accounts with Facebook to publicize themselves. On the other side of the coin, some members of the public have complained of “intrusion of privacy” by candidates whose campaigns have extended to sending out unsolicited telephone text messages. The JCCI has in recent times made proposals for an “election awareness program” to help the public understand “election culture” as well as “acquaint people with their rights and duties”. Some 450 JCCI employees, meanwhile, have voiced their requirements of the Board of Directors. Adnan Mandoura, Director General of the Business Sector and the committees at the JCCI said the many work programs and plans based on a long-term strategy required continuation to add to the chamber's previous successes. Mutlaq Al-Hazmi, Executive Director of the committees sector, said the current Board had made great achievements in committee work, with their number now at 64 to help government departments in the Jeddah Governorate. “They now form the backbone of JCCI work because they are directly linked to the people and their problems,” Al-Hazmi said. “This is shown by contributions over the past year in solving the piling up of goods at Jeddah Islamic Port and the flour crisis that started in the Haj season in 2008. The committees moved swiftly to contain the crises,” he said. Al-Hazmi expressed a desire to see the new Board continue supporting the work of the committees, which he described as a “service to all sectors of society” and “the Chamber's arm in the private sector”.
