JEDDAH, 11 September 2004 — A month-long public awareness campaign on the upcoming municipal elections will be launched today, informed sources said.
The sources said the general election committee, chaired by Prince Mansour ibn Miteb, would meet with the heads of municipalities next week to discuss measures for the successful conduct of the elections.
Efforts are under way to set up four local election committees in the Eastern Province, where the elections will be conducted in December. The four panels will be based in Dammam, Al-Ahsa, Hafr Al-Baten and Al-Khafji.
According to Al-Yaum, the authorities have approved the format for the registration of voters, which includes the name of the voter, number of his identity, date of birth, place of residence and work and registration number.
The sources said the registration of voters would not take more than 10 minutes. The list of voters will be published at registration centers for three days for people to see and make observations, if any.
The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs has issued the guidelines for voter registration. According to the guidelines, officials have to check the voters’ ID cards and make sure whether they are qualified or not.
If a person is not qualified to be on the voter list, the officials must reject the application and give the reason for the decision. Registered voters will be given cards.
The registration centers will be manned by the head of the center, a number of officials, one or more secretaries, office service employees, a receptionist and a technical support officer.
The civic elections are to be held from November into January 2005 in three phases to pick half the members of 178 municipal councils in the Kingdom’s 13 regions.
