Shobily, an independent candidate, got the highest number of votes in the 15th Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) board elections, the results of which were announced Thursday. The incumbent president A.R. Al-Jeraisy's Development Group got the highest number of seats in the two-day election. Al-Shobily, a real estate businessman, got 2,499 votes in the 12-candidate list divided into two groups – six each for commerce and industry sectors. The winners list based on vote count includes: Commerce group 1. Khalid Bin Saud Al-Shobily (2,499), 2. Abdulrahman Al-Jeraisy (2,050), 3. Khalid A.A. Al-Muqrin (1,648), 4. Sami Bin A.K. Al-Abdulkareem (1,430), 5. Abdullah Bin Ali Balsharaf (1,423), 6. Saad Bin Abdullah Al-Ajlan (1,340). The Industry group: 1. Saad Bin Abdullah Al-Khruaif (2,368), 2. Ahmed Bin Sulaiman Al-Rajhi (2,324), 3. Abdulaziz Bin Muhammad Al-Ajlan (2,291), 4. Saad Bin Ibrahim Al-Moajal (1,805), Fahad Bin Muhammad Al-Hamadi (1,776). A total of 34 candidates, including three women, were in the election fray. However, the women candidates could not make it to the winners' list. As per RCCI by-laws the winning candidates will convene a meeting to elect the next president. A member of the Development Group said Al-Jeraisy would easily be elected the next chairman of the RCCI board. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Development Group members would support Al-Jeraisy to retain the top position. However, Khalid Al-Shobily in a statement to media said the number of votes he received reflected the voice of the voters and a support for his election agenda. “The voters need a change in RCCI,” Al-Shobily, who registered an unprecedented election victory, said. However, Faisal Al-Shobily, the 19-year-old son of Khalid Al-Shobily, could be the choice for next chairman. The three women candidates, Huda A.R. Al-Jeraisy got 778 votes, Amal Muhammad Badruddin 340 votes, and Basmah Muhammad Qasmah received 250. In the 18-member board, Ministry of Commerce will nominate six members. Wives campaigned for husbands Wives of candidates who took part in the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) elections made sure their support for their spouses was known during campaigning at RCCI headquarters Wednesday. Al-Jawhara Al-Saif, wife of candidate Saud Abdul Aziz Al-Fayiz, arrived early at the RCCI women's branch to provide her husband with moral support. Al-Jawhara, an education supervisor, said she only found out that candidates could send female representatives to the women's branch a few hours before votes were cast, so she stayed absent from work to do her bit for her husband. Annoyed by some female representatives' election campaign practices of “pestering every woman who enters the chamber to vote,” Al-Jawhara said: “We are not here to force people, but to win their votes through gentle persuasion and convincing them of the goals and benefits.” – SG/Okaz __
