MUSCAT, OCT 27 - The presence of women in the ninth term of Majlis Ash’shura has doubled in the elections witnessed by large voter turnout on Sunday. According to results posted late in the night at the Ministry of Interior website, two women have made their entry to the 86-member Majlis Ash’shura. Tahira al Lawatiya and Fadhila Abdullah Suleiman al Ruaili representing the wilayats of Muttrah and Suhar, respectively, are the two winners from the 40 female candidates who contested the elections.
In the previous term of the Majlis, there was only one female representative. However, most of the Shura members this time are new and most of them are relatively young.
Earlier during day, Khalid bin Hilal al Busaidy, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, Chairman of the Main Committee for Majlis Ash’shura 9th Term Elections, said that voting kicked off on Sunday morning in all the wilayats of the Sultanate smoothly and without obstacles.
“Through communication with elections centres, voters started to arrive at the centres from 7 am”, he said.
Although the scheduled voting hours were between 7 am to 7 pm, the main Election Committee decided to extend the voting hours in all the 110 election centres till 9 pm. All the voters who arrived at their respective centres were allowed to cast their votes.
Reports indicate that the voter turnout has been impressive as eligible voters continued to throng the centres even during the extended hours.
According to the Ministry of Interior, which oversaw the election process, all the election centres were well organised in terms of receiving and guiding the voters in exercising their franchise in all the governorates.
“All the centres had higher voter turnout”, Oman News Agency (ONA) said quoting the ministry.
The ministry, meanwhile, denied reports of the closure of a voting centre in North Al Sharqiyah Governorate.
Wilayat of Al Mudhaibi is closed.”
According to Al Busaidy, elections for the ninth term witnessed e-voting in all the 110 polling stations in different wilayats of the Sultanate.
In all, 19 voting centres were allocated for male and female voters each, besides 72 combined voting centres. Also eight unified voting centres were earmarked and distributed in five governorates.
There was a 20 per cent rise in number of voters this time compared to the eighth term elections.
A total of 637 candidates, including 40 women, were in the fray for the 86-member Majlis Ash’shura elections, which saw 713,335 voters, including 375,801 males and 337,534 females casting their votes.
The number of the members representing each wilayat depended on its population density.
A wilayat with a population lower than 30,000 is represented by one member, while a wilayat populated by more than 30,000 is represented by two.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
