Local polls will advance reforms, democracy building

Interior minister Ghaleb Al Zu’bi said Saturday that the mid-August elections to choose new municipal and governorate councils across the Kingdom will largely contribute to democracy building and accomplish the national reform process.

He also told a meeting with governors from across the country that enrooting democracy would only be attained through the ballot box, which enables citizens to choose their representatives and engage in the developmental, political and economic decisions at the level of the village, district, governorate and country.

The elections will enable the public to elect those who represent them in all of the local councils, which have the power to make the aspired-for change and set the course of comprehensive development in all its forms, Zu’bi said.

He urged local administrators to take all security and logistical measures, in cooperation with the relevant authorities in their respective regions, to make the electoral process a success and support the Independent Election Commission in managing and overseeing the polls and addressing any glitches that might occur during and after the vote.

“The decentralisation elections have been a dream that will come true in a few days”, he said, adding that His Majesty King Abdullah had ordered holding the polls to give the citizens deeper involvement in “this scheme” that aims to achieve drastic change in the political, developmental and economic concepts toward a new era of positive public involvement in the programmes that determine their future.

The governors gave a briefing about their preparedness and the security measures being taken to conduct the polls, reiterating that the government will respond to any requests by the electoral commission to ensure that the elections are free and fair.

Source: Fana News