JEDDAH — The position of "umdah", or neighborhood mayor, has suddenly shot back to prominence when the municipal council elections were announced after they remained unnoticed by Saudis for many years.
Ihab Al-Rifai, general coordinator for Makkah's municipal elections committee, pointed out that the testimony from the mayor is one of the ways voters can prove their place of residence according to election bylaws.
Speaking to Al-Hayat, Al-Rifai said voters could prove their residence with their family card, the national identity card or a copy of utility bills showing the address of residence. They can also prove the residency with a copy of the ownership contract or a rent contract countersigned by the district mayor or the neighborhood police station.
He, however, explained that the mayor's testimony is important in cases where the family card is missing. "In such cases, the mayor becomes a key witness to prove the voter's address and identity," said Al-Rifai.
Member of the election committee Abdullah Al-Mansour said: “Having proof of residence is an essential condition for voters to register in this election cycle. Our aim is to govern voting processes and avoid negative phenomena that appeared in the last two rounds.”
Spokesman for the election committee in Jeddah Saud Al-Twaim said proof of residence was essential even for previously registered voters.
“In cases of a change of address, the person is required to register his personal details in the electoral center in the area where his residence is located,” he said.
Although the requirement of the mayor's testimony to register for voting has reinforced his position, their role is nothing new to the Saudi administrative system. They have existed since the time King Abdul Aziz unified the country.
Saudi Arabia issued the first system that determined the powers of the neighborhood mayor way back in 1930, and 14 years later, new tasks were added to the mayor's position, which included controlling personal records, monitoring suspicious people and reporting fraud or suspicious deaths. In addition, the mayor is commissioned to submit a report to the police every 24 hours about occurrences in his neighborhood.
According to several neighborhood mayors, women make up around 60 percent of people who seek proof of residence from them in recent days. This was because many of the women do not have rent or ownership contracts in their name to prove their residence, they said.
The mayors expect the demand for proof of residence to increase over the next two weeks when the voter registration will peak. Currently they receive between 16 and 20 applications a day.
Female citizens are complaining about the complicated registration procedure, saying that it is leading to a low turnout of women at this stage of the election process.
They said solutions to the hurdles have to be found in order to attract the largest number of women to participate in the electoral process as voters and candidates.
