Government | Saturday 22 August, 2015 2:25 pm |

The Kingdom has set up 1,263 centers in 284 municipalities that can handle 4 million voters for the Dec. 12 municipal council elections.

These centers will open today to allow for the registration of voters until Sept. 21, from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. except Fridays. Candidates will be able to register from Aug. 30 for 17 days.
Fadee Al-Qahtani, chairman of the municipal election committee, said there has been a 68 percent increase in election stations, compared to the previous polls, largely to accommodate women voters and candidates for the first time.
Al-Qahtani said 250 stations have been set up to deal with emergencies if the current ones, with a capacity of 3,000, are inundated with voters. Voter registration will be carried out in these specific electoral centers in all municipalities and secretariats, he said.
The registration of voters and candidates in the holy capital will start one week earlier than the rest. Electoral centers can be found by logging on to the websitehttp://www.intekhab.gov.sa or through the ‘Intekhab’ application that works both on IOS and Android.
This service allows voters to determine the addresses of centers, to which local council they belong, and whether they cater for men or women. They can use Google Maps to find their location.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs has announced that it has completed preparations for the elections months ago, with 30,000 Saudis deployed to help organize the polls across the country.
Abdul Lateef Al-Asheikh, the minister and president of the general elections committee, toured Wednesday several polling stations in Jeddah. He said the ministry and other parties had benefited from the experience of the two previous polls, which would result in major improvements this time.
Al-Asheikh said the elections would take place according to the highest global standards in terms of integrity and independence. There would be mechanisms to allow participants to lodge complaints and objections with independent committees outside the municipal sector, he said.
Al-Asheikh was accompanied during his visit by several top officials including Al-Qahtani and Hamad Al-Omar, the ministry’s director general of public relations and media.
He was briefed by Jeddah Mayor Hani Abu Ras, the head of the local elections committee in the province, on plans for the registration of voters and candidates.