RIYADH: Participation during Saudi Arabia's first round of municipal elections on Thursday was 82 per cent in the areas surrounding the capital, an election official said. "The turnout was 82pc in all the Riyadh region excluding Riyadh city. Some towns and villages exceeded 92pc," Sultan Al Bazai, a member of the general commission of municipal elections.
Riyadh mayor Prince Abdul Aziz bin Ayyaf Al Muqrin said the turnout was strongest in the second district of Al Nassim, reaching 76pc. The highest number of candidates contested from Al Nassim.
| Maybe I didn't write enough book reports in summer school, but if this is the highest Riyadh district at 76%, how can the average participation in Riyadh be 82%? Hey Emily, lemme borrow the calculator in your cell phone ... |
| Not a chance, Steve. I'm still trying to figger out the tip on my bar tab... |
Turnout was lowest in the fourth (Olaya-Suleimaniyah) of seven districts that comprised the capital, at only 58pc, the mayor said. Just over 140,000 men out of 470,000 eligible voters registered to cast their ballots in the first of three-phase polls, in which half the members of 178 municipal councils will be elected across the ultra-conservative kingdom.
Women are barred from taking part in the elections, which will take place on March 3 in the Eastern Province and the southwest, and on April 21 in the western regions of Mecca and Medina, as well as the northern regions. "The country is now moving in the right direction," Shaikh Mohsen Al Awaji, a moderate Islamist and government critic, said. But "if the government continues with this pace of reform, it means that we will need several centuries to get our minimum rights," he said.
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