Saudi municipal elections: More than 8,000 voters register in Makkah

Voter registration for the upcoming municipal elections in the Saudi city of Makkah and its suburbs, which started on Aug. 16, a week before other regions in the Kingdom, came to an end on Tuesday.

Mayor Osama Al-Bar, chairman of the local elections committee, said until Sunday a total of 8,338 voters, consisting of 6,546 men and 1,792 women, registered in 47 polling centers.

He said on Monday, a day before the end of registration, 613 men and 248 women voters registered their names.

Al-Bar said 182 men and women have registered themselves as candidates for the third municipal elections with will be held on Dec. 12 to choose two thirds of the members of the 284 municipal councils.

The other third will be appointed by the minister of rural and municipal affairs.

According to the chairman, the registration of contestants will end tomorrow (Thursday).

Registration of voters across the Kingdom began on Aug. 22 and will end on Sept. 14 while registration of candidates began on Aug. 30 and will continue up to Sept. 17.

"The preliminary lists of voters will be publicly announced on Sept. 29 and the final ones on Nov. 9 while the preliminary lists of candidates will be announced on Sept. 30 and the final ones on Nov. 29," he said.

Voting in the municipal elections will be on Saturday, Dec. 12 from 8 a.m to 5 p.m and the results will be announced the same day.