DAMMAM: With just one day left to file nominations for the Eastern Province chamber of commerce elections, only two Saudi women have come forward to stand for election. They are Suad Alzaydi and Fowzia Al-Karri.

Alzaydi is a familiar name, being the president of the businesswomen’s committee at the Asharqia Chamber and also because she was among the six women who ran unsuccessfully in the last elections four years ago. Al-Karri is not similarly well-known in Eastern Province business circles.

According to a list of candidates issued late Tuesday, 23 businessmen have filed their nominations. They include big names such as current chamber president, Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid, Ibrahim Al-Jomaih, Abdullah Al-Majdouie, Abdul Hadi Al-Hokait, Ghodran Said Ghodran and Abdul Rahman Al-Otaishan. There are nearly 15,000 eligible voters from Dammam, Alkhobar, Dhahran, Jubail, Ras Tanura, Qatif and Saihat. Al-Hasa has its own chamber of commerce. About 500 women are among the eligible voters, which means that the victory of one or more women candidates would be due to male voters.

Elections are tentatively set for Dec. 19, but there has been no official confirmation of the date. Twelve members will be elected and another six appointed by the commerce and industry minister.

Officials at the chamber have refused to respond to queries about the elections, saying they were unauthorized to speak to the media. Businessmen are also reluctant to go on record; however, they were happy to discuss everything off the record.

One of the reasons for the lack of excitement in the business community is the promulgation of new rules. Unlike the last elections, this time businessmen cannot form a group to contest the elections.

“Every businessman has to contest individually. Last time, we were part of a group in which we decided beforehand who would be president and vice president from among that group if that group were to be elected,” said one businessman who is standing for election again. “This arrangement,” he said, “was good for the voters, too. They knew who they were electing, who their president would be. Now, however, each voter will vote for individuals. There are no groups. Only after the election will the elected members select a president among themselves. This is like Russian roulette,” he explained.

Also, according to the new rules, there is a strict ban on campaigning and canvassing this time. “It was like a carnival last time. Newspapers were full of advertisements of candidates promising to do this and that if they were elected. They were promises and enticements. This is not going to be the case this time, and that is why you see little excitement about the elections this time.” During the last elections, Eastern Province businesswomen ran one of the trendiest and most well -organized campaigns in their bid to win a seat or two on the board. “We spent a lot of time canvassing and convincing businesspeople to vote for us. There were six of us. Four of us contested the elections as a group. It was a new experience for us. We did everything possible to get our views and message across to the eligible voters,” said Samia Al-Idrissi who lost but bagged the most number of votes. She said she was not running this time because of her business demands.

“Elections require a lot of effort, time and money. It is not easy,” she said. “However, I am trying to convince a couple of other women to stand for this election ... Let us see if they agree ... We have time till Wednesday afternoon,” Al-Idrissi added.

Alzaydi said she had decided to run for election after some serious considerations. “All the good work that I have done as president of the Businesswomen’s Committee at the chamber will be thrown away if I don’t get back into the game,” she said. “We had a bittersweet experience last time. We were happy that we ran but were sad that we didn’t win. What made things worse for us was the fact that none of the businesswomen were nominated to the board by the government. There were at least two women who were nominated to the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. That raised our expectations. We thought some of us would be nominated as well. That didn’t happen so there was a lot of disappointment. Frankly, all those developments have had a negative impact on women’s attitude toward elections,” she said.

Alzaydi admitted that elections were all about winning and losing. “I would do my best to reach as many voters as possible and would try to convince them to vote for me and my program,” she said.