Vote turnout 82%, Saudi official says
Participation during Saudi Arabia’s first round of municipal elections was 82% in the areas surrounding the capital, an election official said, providing no figures for Riyadh itself.
“The turnout was 82% in all the Riyadh region excluding Riyadh city. Some towns and villages exceeded 92%,” said Sultan al-Bazai, a member of the General Commission of Municipal Elections, on Friday.
He did not say why figures for the capital were not published.
Concerning the capital, Al-Iqtissadiyah newspaper on Friday quoted the mayor, Prince Abd al-Aziz bin Ayyaf al-Muqrin, as saying turnout was strongest in the second district of al-Nassim, reaching 76%.
Lowest
Turnout in the first round of elections on Thursday was lowest in the fourth (Olaya-Sulaimaniyah) of seven districts that comprise the capital, at only 58%, the mayor said.
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“Some towns and villages exceeded 92%” Sultan al-Bazai, |
Just over 140,000 men out of 470,000 eligible voters registered to cast their ballots in the first of three-phase polls, in which half the members of 178 municipal councils will be elected across the ultra-conservative kingdom.
Women are barred from taking part in the elections, which will take place on 3 March in the Eastern Province and the southwest, and on 21 April in the western regions of Makka and Madina, as well as the northern regions.