MAKKAH — The local committee for the third municipal council elections on Wednesday opened a total of 47 voting centers in Makkah, Jamoom, Madrakah and Asfan where final lists of voters were displayed for the would-be voters to make sure their names are included. Mayor Osama Albar, the committee's chairman, said the lists were hung on the walls so that men and women voters may ascertain their names were included. He said there are 44,782 registered voters in Makkah, consisting of 42,380 men and 2,402 women. Albar said the voters could also check their names on the Internet link: www.intekhab.gov.sa He said the centers will be open from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m every day for four days. Meanwhile, the General Election Committee has prepared 1,927 ballot boxes and 25,490 voting cubicles in 1,296 centers for more than 1.5 million voters to cast votes for 7,466 male and female candidates. The elections for 284 municipal councils in various parts of the Kingdom will be held on Dec. 12 and the results are expected to be announced the same day. The voters will choose two thirds of the councils' members while the minister of municipal and rural affairs will appoint the remaining third. Judaie Al-Qahtani, chairman of the executive committee of the elections, said no seats were reserved for either men or women. "The candidate who obtains the largest number of votes will win the seat regardless of the gender," he said. Judaie said the voters should come by themselves to cast their votes but those of them who are of special needs or crippled by diseases, according to documented medical reports, can deputize others to vote on their behalf. "Prisoners can also cast their votes through representatives," he added. The chairman said the councils' members will meet after the elections to choose the chairmen and deputy chairmen. "The municipality's chairman, who is an ex officio member, will not have the right to vote while electing chairmen or their deputies," he explained. Meanwhile, the Ahsa governorate in the Eastern Province has the largest number of registered women voters who have reached 5,531. The region has more than 84,000 voters and 166 candidates, including 44 women.
