Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — Despite more than 1,200 polling centers across the Kingdom open and ready to register voters for municipal elections, registration turnout has been slow, with some centers vacant except for the presence of some government employees. In Jeddah, lukewarm voter turnout prompted Mayor Hani Abu Ras, head of the local elections committee, to call for intensified awareness campaigns urging citizens to register. The spokesman of the local elections committee, Saud Al-Tuwaim, said voting centers' exact locations are available via GPS, a move to make them easily accessible. "There are applications on mobile phones helping people to reach the centers easily," Al-Tuwaim said. He expects an intense awareness campaign to increase the number of voters over the coming few days. Meanwhile, Jeddah's oldest female voter in history has registered at one of the city's voting centers. Muneera Abdi, 81, said she wanted to vote to help boost civic and municipal services in her city. She asked all Saudi women living in Jeddah to register for the elections so they can be real partners in the process of decision-making. To date, a total of 285 men and women have registered to vote across Jeddah's ten constituencies. In Madinah, the situation was no better; a number of centers in the holy city remained vacant during registration time which lasts for five hours from after Asr prayer until 9 p.m., except Fridays. In Al-Baha, less than 100 men and women have registered so far, while in Qassim only 700 men and 120 women have registered over the past four days. In Najran, Mayor Faris Al-Shafaq, chairman of the local elections committee, declined to say how many voters had already registered. In Dammam, only 300 men and women have registered so far. The General Elections Committee has asked voters to prioritize the elections, and to put tribal or social considerations aside so as to serve the general interest. It asked the voters to choose candidates objectively, according to their policies and campaigns.
