Islamists sweep the last round of Saudi municipal elections, reports Rasheed Abou-Alsamh from Riyadh Islamist candidates swept the last round of municipal elections in the Western region of the country and in Al-Qassim, capturing all seven seats in the relatively liberal port city of Jeddah, and nearly all seats in the holy cities of Mecca and Madina. Islamists also emerged victorious in municipal elections held in Riyadh in February and in the Eastern Province in March. In the first elections to take place in over 40 years in this conservative kingdom, 21 candidates in Jeddah filed complaints with the Elections Committee when religious leaders issued a list -- dubbed the "Golden List" -- of seven candidates they backed. The complaints were rejected, even though strict campaigning rules prohibit the formation of political parties and alliances among candidates. Islamist candidates denied they had ever formed an alliance, and said that religious scholars had the right to express their opinion just like any other citizen. "I filed a complaint because I was offended by the list of the religious scholars which said these seven candidates are better than the others. On what basis can they make such a claim?" asked an angry Osama Jamjoom, a 40-year-old US-educated engineer who comes from one of Jeddah's old business families, and who was defeated in the elections. "They specifically gave preference to seven candidates and gave instructions to voters not to scatter their votes. That's what I find offensive," said Jamjoom in an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly. Voters elected seven members to each city council. The other seven members of each council will be appointed by the government. But Abdul-Rahman Yamani, the candidate who garnered the most votes in Jeddah -- 11,950 in total -- denied that any politicking had taken place, and insisted that all citizens had the right to make their electoral recommendations. "There is a difference between endorsement and cooperation. We can say that we endorse X or Y. They're confusing this with cooperation, which is not allowed," explained Yamani, a 50- year-old US-educated industrial engineer. "To be honest, the religious endorsement carried weight, and this upset the other candidates," he admitted. "I am upset by the attacks against the winners. They act as if we were nobodies, but we're all good technocrats, with good track records, and are good Muslims." Most observers noted the campaigning strategies of the Islamist candidates were the most well-organised, using mobile phone text messages, websites and word of mouth to reach out to voters. All candidates were barred from advertising on radio and television, and the campaign period lasted for only 10 days, something many candidates complained about. With over 500 candidates alone in Jeddah, vying for only seven seats, voters were overwhelmed at the polling stations by the sheer number of candidate names they had to sift through while filling in their long ballots. "I think that most Saudis are not trained to think for themselves," explained newspaper columnist Abeer Mishkhas. "It's a problem with our educational system that needs to be fixed. I'm not surprised that so many voters simply trusted the recommendation of the religious scholars and voted for the Golden List." Not only that, but many observers noted that the low turn-out on elections day may be put down to the apathy of many potential voters. Only Saudi men 21 years of age and older were allowed to vote in these elections. Women have been promised the vote in the next municipal elections in 2009. "Only 23,500 people voted out of 52,000 registered voters," said Jamjoom. "That's less than 50 per cent turnout." While many Saudis were stunned that none of the non- Islamist candidates from the old Jeddah business families won a seat on the council, one Saudi analyst predicted the government will redress the lack of non-Islamists on councils across the country when it appoints the other half of all seats. "I anticipate that the government will appoint non-Islamists to balance the municipal councils," said Adel Al-Toraifi, in an interview with the Weekly. "I think the government did not want to interfere and change anything in the outcome of these elections, as they knew they could re-balance the outcome when they appoint the remaining seats of all the councils," he added. Finally, Jamjoom pointed out that "considering that we are in a democratic process, I believe we must respect the choice of the people."
