RIYADH, April 30: Thousands of Pakistanis turned up enthusiastically on Tuesday at all the polling stations in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf cities to cast their votes in a peaceful and organized manner.

The polling started at 9am and was scheduled to continue until 7pm local time (10pm PST).

By the time this report was filed almost 4,000 votes had already been cast in the polling booth in Al-Khobar only. In Jeddah, this number had already crossed the eight thousand mark.

In the early hours of the day, the rush at the Jeddah polling booth was so intense that the authorities had to request the Saudi police to control the mob. The voting pattern was indeed more than anticipated by most analysts. Very few people had thought that the turnout would be this high.

Some voters were seen standing outside the polling stations even before the polling time. Many wanted to get over it before going to their respective offices. Tuesday being a working day here, the number of voters started to grow as the day wore on.

At some polling stations, the scene was one of carnival. For a large number of Pakistanis, who have been living here as expatriate for decades, this turned out to be their first opportunity to cast their vote in any national election.

The expatriate community has expressed its desire that in all future exercises also, the overseas Pakistanis should be allowed to cast their votes.