So, from 7 a.m to 7 p.m yesterday tens of thousands (or hundreds of thousands?) of Omanis went to place their votes for Majlis Al Shura 2011-2015 (closest Oman will ever get to having a parliament). I did not vote because elections in Salalah are driven by tribal power and at the moment, there's no point. None of the my peers voted either. According to Twitter, 24,074 people in Salalah voted for 2-seats out of 32 candidates. Looks like a protest leader got the highest votes. Quite interesting. In Taqah (a town east of Salalah), the winner was also a protest leader who was in jail for 52 days after the army took over Freedom Square Parking Lot on May 12. I'm impressed. I thought you weren't allowed to step forward as a candidate with a criminal record.
So, winners in Dhofar are:
Taqah: Salim Mohammed Salim Al Mashani (protest leader)
Thumrait: Salim Said Salim Ghawas
Salalah: Salim Suhail Al Sum Bait Said + Salim Ali Ahmed Al Kathiri
Rakhyut: Mohammed Salim Issa Al Amri
Sadah: Ramis Amer Al Mahri
Mirbat: Salim Mohammed Faraj Al Shahri
Shaleem & Hilanyiat Islands: Maktoom Al Mahri
Maqshan: Saleh Al Shashai
Dhalkut: Ahmed Salim Ali Rafait
Mazyoona: Salim Said Al Harizi
As I anticipated, no women won in Dhofar. One of them walked away with over 100 votes, but that's about it. For Salalah, Salim Bait Said walked away with around 5000 votes according to my sources, but I'm waiting for official information. The second person had over 2000 votes. Said Saad Al Shahri (former Shura member) almost won again, but Salim Al Kathiri beat him by 170 votes. Keep in mind that tribal committees counted voters ages ago, and could calculate who would win. No surprise for Salalah. If you want to see the total list of winner from Oman, here's the link. Only one woman made it to Majlis Al Shura in Oman even though there were 77 female candidates. Tsk tsk.
I think it's really sad that you and your peers didn't vote. The system may not be perfect (nor the candidates) but I think it's really important to vote nonetheless. People over the ages have fought to have the right to vote and many people still don't have that opportunity.
ReplyDeleteJust to protect myself from a lawsuit for breach of your copyright! ;-)
ReplyDeletehttps://plus.google.com/100146646232137568790/posts/Rtph2qXMiiK
i see the name salim is quite popolar during this vote!!
ReplyDeleteI wished I was in Salalah and went with my mother to vote....
ReplyDeleteMy sisters spent three hours updating and analysing the results in whatsapp. The final results of salalah came out around 3 am.
My family voted for only one candidate except some of my sisters who voted for women. they did so just to support women and 'give them a chance'. Oman TV yesterday showed all the results from the beginning to the end. At first we thought the family's favourite candidate was going to win but when he needed around 140 votes to go back to the second place the numbers started raising against him and it was kind of clear he wasnt going to win..
ReplyDeletelol sisters' analysis.
So where were the 'NOT TRIBAL' candidates? If all these people like yourself are not bothering to vote then why isn't someone standing for the council themselves? Even the protest leader got himself a job!
ReplyDeleteFYI: 2 protest leaders from Liwa and Shinas won election for their Willayats also ;)
ReplyDeleteGood job folks
I think it's great that some of those involved in demonstrations earlier in the year had the balls and the commitment to put up a candidate, back him and elect him. HM answered the initial protests in a matter of days with a rapid acceleration of political reform, and this is it.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I was sceptical that any would "walk the walk", but they have and it's a wonderful thing: now the demonstrators have "their boys" in the big house, let's see what they come up with in terms of draft legislation etc, but also, let's see how they communicate and serve those who elected them. Better be way ahead of those they were condemning before! Good luck, and may they all serve their communities well (and remember that they represent all of their constituency, not just those who voted for them!)
Ameen to the TLS.
ReplyDelete