Rush of voters at a registration center in Jeddah on the final day. (AN photo by Adnan Mahdali)

JEDDAH, 17 March 2005 — Registration of voters for the April 21 municipal elections in the Western Region ended yesterday with the number of electorate reaching over 120,000. Of these over 80,000 were from Jeddah and adjoining areas and over 40,000 were from Madinah.

In Jeddah, registrations increased during the past two days as voters rushed and vied with one another to beat the deadline. Abdul Malik Abu Azza, a poll official, said that for the past weeks only a small number of people turned out to register and there were no problems of crowding at the election centers. “But for the past two days the number of voters registering was enormous,” said Abu Azza, “because people suddenly remembered that the deadline was fast approaching.”

Yet, officials who are monitoring the election process are not quite happy with the final figure. They thought the number would be a lot more than what actually turned out. Until Tuesday the number of registered voters was 73,994 and that figure covered not only Jeddah but also Rabigh, Khulais, Alkamil, Leith and Qunfuda.

“It is not the number we all expected,” said Habeeb Omar, one of the officials at the election center No. 480 at Jeddah’s Faisaliyah District. Some youngsters at the Alkhalidiya center were found making fun of the elections and showing no interest in participating in the electoral process. Yet, they were lining up at the center to register. When Arab News asked the youngsters why they were there if not interested they said that they came for the fun of it.

Others said that they were encouraged by friends and family to go and register, and that left to themselves they had no interest. One of the youths raised an interesting question setting off a lively debate among the staff.

“Will I be able to ask for a cinema or theater from the municipal staff that we elect?” asked the young man. Many of the voters said that they ought to be allowed to ask for a cinema if it did not contradict with Islamic laws and had no religious restraints.

“Why not? We have places for fun fair where you see families, there are coffee shops and restaurants for families too so why can’t we have cinemas that operate under certain criteria?”

Some staff said they did not think there would be any problem of having such places of entertainment if they operated under certain regulations. Others doubted if the demand would ever be conceded. “I think some religious agency will interfere and shoot down the whole idea.”

In Madinah, however, many voters showed up to register on the last day of enumeration. After many days of poor attendance, many people decided to register on the last day. According to some enumerators, the number of registrations doubled yesterday. Reasons varied as to why people decided to wait until the final day.

Arab News met with a number of young voters at election centers. Samir Al-Sehali, a 25-year-old voter, said: “At first I did not care about the election because I did not realize the importance of elections due to lack of awareness. I did not believe how important my voice is if I register, and to be honest with you, I still do not know if my vote is important.

“What I know is that if we stand together as relatives, because we come from a very large family, then our collective voice will be important. That is why I decided to come forward and register as a voter. We, as relatives with voting power, decided to vote together for the best candidate who will work for the good of the community.”

Mukhtar Al-Shingiti, 30, said: “Elections are important but I did not care about it at first. I had bigger problems with work than to care about elections. I have to admit that the awareness campaign for elections was very bad. Many people still do not know the concept of elections.

“I learned about the importance of elections from a gathering of my relatives. I must give credit to some of my relatives who held a meeting with all of us to explain how important registration is and the importance of uniting when voting. I decided to vote last week when I learned that one of my relatives is going to register as a candidate. Many of my relatives turned up in the last week of enumeration to register so we could vote for our man.”

Bassam Hussein Al-Ahmadi blamed his school for registering late. He is a student at the medical college. “I have so much work to do. Today I came to register on the last day because I do not want to be the only one in my family with no voting card. I am very happy that I am not the only one who showed up on the last day. I was surprised that many people registered on the last day in this historic election.

“I was very happy because the process was very simple and fast. It took me exactly 10 minutes from the time they filled the application to the time I received my card. I felt as if I was holding a piece of history in my hand. Something that I will remember forever and will show to my kids when they grow up.”

— With input from Yousuf Albaloushi and Samir Al-Saadi