RIYADH, April 21: Saudis in the western region of the kingdom, including Jeddah, Makkah, Madinah, Taif, Qassim, Hail, Tabuk, Al-Jouf and the northern governorate went to polls on Thursday to elect half of the representatives to their local bodies. The other half members were to be nominated by the government. This is the third and final round of the polls which began in Riyadh on February 10.

Dozens of men started filing into a large polling station near the airport in Jeddah at 8:00am (05:00 GMT), one of 45 voting centres in this Red Sea city where some 500 candidates are vying for seven seats, an AFP correspondent reported. Some of them were seen sipping Arabic coffee and eating dates, traditional signs of Arab hospitality, courtesy of the municipality’s head Muhammad Ali Yusuf.

Women, who have been barred from the vote, were nowhere to be seen. Results of the elections were expected to be announced on Friday.

“The voting is proceeding in a very orderly manner in all regions,” Sultan al-Bazi, media officer for the General Elections Committee, told the press in the early hours of the polling.

Around 83,000 men were registered to cast their votes in the Jeddah region, including between 55,000 and 57,000 in the city itself, making up only around 20 per cent of eligible voters, according to official estimates, indicating the public apathy towards the electoral process.

Some 500 contenders were contesting in Jeddah city alone for seven elected seats on the local council. A total of 244 seats are up for grabs in the third round, which will complete the election of half the members of 178 municipal councils across Saudi Arabia.