JEDDAH/MAKKAH/ASIR: The turnout was “good” in Jeddah Governorate on the first day of voter registration Saturday, especially over the first two hours, according to Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Nahari, official spokesman for the municipal elections in the governorate. Al-Nahari did not disclose the number of people who registered and said officials have not completed their counting. Officials will announce the names at the end of the registration period, in 21 days, he said. “We will prepare special lists for the voters and it will be announced at the appropriate time,” he added. Al-Nahari said that while some of those expected to be nominated are using their personal cars to pick up voters in some Jeddah-affiliated governorates, this is not a concern. “There is no problem with this,” he said. “The person who collects them is not considered a candidate at present.” He said there are periods when publicity is forbidden particularly 10 days before the elections on Sept. 23. Regulations allow members of the first session of the municipal council to nominate themselves, provided they fulfill certain conditions, he added. On Saturday, election centers in Makkah started receiving citizens wishing to register. Dr. Osama Al-Bar, Mayor of Makkah and Chairman of the Local Committee for Municipal Elections, said that all election centers have been prepared to receive voters from 4.30 P.M. to 9.30 P.M. He said there was no need for voters who had participated in the 2005 elections to register again, provided they have not changed their place of residence, he said. There is no need to show proof of a change in residence; an undertaking signed by the voter is sufficient, he added. Any citizen who loses his election card or forgets the information can retrieve this data by entering his national identity number onto the municipal elections website, Al-Bar said. In Asir Region, SMS messages sent on Saturday by unidentified sources cast doubt on the integrity of the municipal elections in some centers. The messages said that the election was window dressing and that the list of candidates has already been finalized. Yahya Arwi, Municipal Council Elections coordinator in Asir Region, said the messages were untrue. “How can the candidates be chosen in advance when the elections have not started yet?” he said. “If the intention is to cast doubt on the integrity and credibility of the elections, then the candidate has the right to verify the final results of the elections. The voter has no right to check what is going on in the elections while they are going on, from the beginning until the end. His function is only to give his vote to one of the candidates.”
