Faris Al-Qahtani Okaz/Saudi Gazette RIYADH — The executive committee supervising the third municipal council elections in December has specified 343 constituencies all over the Kingdom. The committee has identified a total of 1,263 voting centers, including 424 centers exclusively for women voters, distributed in 284 municipalities. There will be 250 voting centers in reserve to be used in case a need arises. The reserve centers will be utilized if the number of registered voters exceeds the maximum limit of 3,000 voters in any one of the designated centers. The number of voting centers rose by 511 compared to the last elections in 2011, when 752 centers were used. Saudi women will be voting in the local elections for the first time in the history of the Kingdom and 83 percent of the new voting centers are set aside for them. Judaie Al-Qahtani, the committee's spokesman, said Riyadh, Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah and Eastern Province municipalities would each have 10 constituencies while Taif and Ahsa will have eight constituencies each. The other 277 municipalities in the country will each have one constituency. Al-Qahtani said municipal councils in the five main cities of Riyadh, Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah and Dammam would have 30 members each, with of 20 of them elected directly and 10 appointed by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs. Taif and Al-Ahsa councils will each have 24 members, of whom 16 will be elected and eight appointed. Some smaller municipalities will have 21-member councils, of which two thirds will be elected. The rest of the municipalities will have councils with nine to 18 members, based on their classification. Ihab Al-Rifaie, coordinator of the local elections committee in Makkah, said the registration of voters in Makkah and Madinah would be advanced by a week to begin on Aug. 16, instead of Aug. 23, because of the Haj season. According to Rifaie, Makkah will have 40 voting centers, Jamoum three and two each in Madrakah and Asfan. Meanwhile, a number of women voters and candidates in Ahsa have objected to the use of the new identity card as a document required to prove the nationality of the voters and candidates. They called for canceling this condition as many of the women voters have not obtained the new IDs and it will not be easy to get them issued before the voter registration period ends. They have said a number of Saudi women are planning to contest the elections but have been hindered by the condition. The elections will be held on Dec. 12 and the results will be announced next day.
