By NNN-KUNA
Muscat : Thousands of Omani voters flocked to polling stations early Saturday to elect a new Shura Council, Oman’s lower house of parliament, for a four-year term.
Supervisory committees organized the entry of voters into the stations and verified their voting cards as per relevant regulations set to facilitate the voting process.
The number of eligible voters is 388,683 from 61 states. They will cast their ballots at 102 polling stations to elect a new 84-member Shura Council members for a sixth term from 2007 to 2011.
Forty-six council members will be elected from 23 states — two from each — and another 38 other members will be selected from 38 states — one from each state.
Omani expatriates have already cast their ballots recently at eleven polls in the Omani embassies in all the GCC capitals and commercial representation offices in Dubai, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and Malaysia.
Several chairmen of supervisory committees told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the voting began in an organized and smooth manner and there was a high turnout since early morning.
However, they urged Omani people to practise their enfranchise and national duty by voting for efficient candidates who could represent them at the Shura Council, stressing that participation in the polls meant an effective contribution to enriching democratic life and boosting the electoral role in the Sultanate of Oman.
Several Omani cabinet ministers and officials were seen casting their ballots at polling stations.
A senior Omani official told KUNA that the Omani Shura Council was being steadily developed and would enjoy, in its sixth term, a generation of knowledgeable members who could enrich the Shura (advisory) process in Oman in the coming stage.
He hoped that Omani electorates would vote for the candidate who really deserved to be a member of the Shura Council.
Interviewed by KUNA, voters said they would call on the new council to set a priority to significant national issues, mainly joblessness, living standards as well as other social issues.
Concerning security, sources at the Interior Ministry told KUNA that the electoral race in several Omani states, including the capital, went on in a calm and smooth atmosphere marked by reasonable enthusiasm and fair competition among candidates.
Salalah, the southern city of Oman, had the lion’s share in view of high turnout, with polling having exceeded 60 percent, the sources said.
The returning results will be made public on the same day, once the vote-counting process is completed.
The automatic vote-counting process will kick off immediately after ballot boxes are closed in each state separately.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information said it had provided press and media representatives with all they needed, including a press centre at Grant Hyatt Hotel, means of communications, fax machines and computers, in order to be able to cover the election properly.