After fights, rumors, accusations and chocolate, the results of the 20th Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry elections in which 65 candidates were running for 12 seats were finally announced at 5 A.M. Thursday morning, with seven new names – one woman among them - appearing on the Board of Directors. Five persons departed from the board. Lama Al-Soleiman was the only female winning candidate chosen by the 6,400 who cast their votes - a record number of voters at any Saudi Chamber. The numbers, however, reflected a high degree of ambivalence given that 32,000 persons were eligible to vote, representing an overall turnout of no more than 20 percent, but the event was notable for being the first time that foreign investors voted in Saudi Arabia. One woman on new Jeddah Chamber Board JEDDAH – The 12 winners of the JCCI elections, divided into two categories of traders and industrialists, were: Traders - Esam Nas, Mohammed Khoja, Ziyad Al-Bassam, Bassam Akhdhar, Abdullah Dahlan and Zuheir Al-Marhoumi. Industrialists - Saleem Al-Harbi, Lama Al-Soleiman, Abdullah Bin Mahfouz, Mazen Batarji, Ahmed Al-Marbi'i, and Abdul Khaliq Saeed. Saleem Al-Harbi, the industrialist winner with the highest count in his classification at 567 votes, spoke to Saudi Gazette soon after his victory was officially announced at 5 A.M. Thursday. “I plan to pursue all the lines that will lead to the improvement of the economic environment in Jeddah, to support and encourage small manufacturing and marketing businesses, and help the Chamber of Commerce promote internal trade and exchanges of manufacturing experience throughout Saudi Arabia,” Al-Harbi said. “We will work to improve the software industry, technical and managerial training, and everything that encourages women entrepreneurs, and young Saudis to work productively in private sector companies,” he said. Spy pens, confectionary and fisticuffs… By Ali Al-Harbi MADINA – This year's campaign and its particularly innovative techniques to win over voters, prompted by a Ministry of Trade and Industry ban on using the media for traditional campaign advertising, has not been to the liking of everyone. Media expert Aboud Shami has voiced his displeasure at the campaigns of almost all the candidates, describing them as “random and unpleasant”, and lamented the tight schedule which he says did not allow voters the requisite time to acquaint themselves with candidates manifestos. “The candidates also failed to approach the electorate in person and speak directly to them,” Shami said. “In other words, there was no real contact with voters to lay out their programs for improvements to the work of the JCCI.” This might be contradicted by reports that candidates were greeting each and every voter personally with a traditional kiss on the cheek, while others turned to technology to achieve less superficial “direct contact” with voters, with one candidate rigging up a full plasma screen conveying a video of himself discussing his campaign and the qualities he would bring to the Board. The presentation of copious amounts of confectionary and refreshments as runners ditched their allotted election space and set up tempting spreads on tables outside was, Shami deemed, “not such a bad idea”. Winning industrialist Abdullah Bin Mahfouz said he made every effort to meet voters face to face. “I greeted them directly, and I also addressed them on my website and my Facebook page,” Bin Mahfouz said. “The times have changed, and voters are more enlightened now and have access to information on all facets of a candidate's abilities.” Complaints remained however, that campaign tent space outside the JCCI was allotted unfairly, and some candidates observed that mobile telephone text messages had been sent out offering tent space for money – citing 90,000 riyals for 150 sq. m. Others lamented the poor air-conditioning in the tent, and the fact that there were no toilets. Efforts to capture voters' hearts increased as the deadline approached Wednesday in campaigns which saw runners jostle for position right up to the entrance to prevent rivals from sweet-talking swaying voters, and finally the pressure told when two sons of rival candidates ended up in a bout of fisticuffs. One of the sons was reportedly spied removing money from his pocket for undisclosed purposes, and when he saw the other capturing the moment with a pen camera, it came to blows. Security staff stepped in as the affair threatened to turn “tribal”, and the aggressor fled before any action could be taken against him. The “spy pen”, however, was sequestered by its slightly injured owner, and the memory chip was removed. – Okaz/SG Poor ‘voting culture' as 80% go missing By Ahmed Al-Iryani JEDDAH – The JCCI was keen to ensure as many voters turned out as possible and can take some degree of satisfaction in that all the letters sent out to members led to a record turnout for a Chamber of Commerce in the Kingdom. But the higher-than-usual figure came suffixed with a paradoxical question. Where did all the voters go? For if the 6,400 voters in the 20th JCCI elections put Riyadh's best of 5,250 votes to shame, the statistical fact remains that they only represented some 20 percent of all persons eligible to vote. Observers cite several areas of blame, notably that JCCI members are not fully au fait with the intricate election process and that they fail to appreciate the Chamber's importance in serving the trader and industrialist community. Victorious trader Abdullah Dahlan preferred to look at the continued improvements in statistics. “It was the highest number in the history of Saudi chambers, and even the percentage of voters can be considered good given that it was an improvement on previous occasions,” Dahlan said. “Also, there was the decision by the Minister of Trade and Industry to only allow voters to choose one candidate, whether trader or industrialist, which has led to large numbers taking part from the trading community,” he said. Winning industrialist Abdul Khaliq Saeed said that many Chamber members were owners of small businesses who were probably not even aware that elections were taking place. “I sent over 20,000 text messages to the mobile telephones of small businesses urging them to vote,” Saeed said. “We need to reach out to the same people throughout the year, and not just at election time.” “Despite assistance from the Chamber to small- and medium-sized businesses, they have not responded positively, but I'm confident that the new Board will produce ideas to increase the number of members and get them involved,” he said. Businessman Fadhl Al-Jahouri put the 80 percent stay-away down to the Chamber's “poor service to traders, particularly owners of small businesses”, while colleague Majed Al-Nafea believed that most of those who voted had received “personal invitations” to vote. “Most of them got called up on the phone or were contacted by clients of large companies whose owners were candidates,” Al-Nafea said. “They went to vote at the request of those candidates.” – Okaz/SG
