Yahya Azzan, chairman of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce’s Election Committee, explained that the announcement of the names of candidates for the Chamber’s elections has been postponed until after the Hajj season. He also explained that the reasons for the postponement stem from time constraints—had the names been announced last week, only five days would have been allocated to receive appeals immediately following the announcement— and the limited time available for candidates« election campaigns, which contributed to the postponement of the election date until after the Hajj season.
For its part, »Okaz” followed all the events that took place at the Jeddah Chamber, starting from the moment the nomination period for membership on the Chamber’s Board of Directors for the 21st term was announced, up to the final decision issued yesterday to postpone the elections until after the Hajj, The period for candidates to submit their nominations for the Chamber elections was announced to begin on Sunday, the 21st of Sha’ban, and continued until the end of business hours on Sunday, the 5th of Ramadan. A total of 53 male and female candidates submitted their nominations, competing for 12 seats, The list included 11 candidates from the industrial sector and 42 from the commercial sector. The candidates from the industrial sector were: Saleh bin Abdullah Kamel, Mazen bin Muhammad Batraji, Ahmad bin Saeed Al-Murbai, Abdullah Mar’i bin Mahfouz, Sa’id bin Muhammad Ubaid bin Zaqr, Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al-Sari’i, Ibrahim bin Muhammad Ghroui, Saleh bin Ahmad bin Afif, Lu’ay bin Osama Mahmoud Aref, Maher bin Salim Al-Harbi, and Saleh Abdulqadir Bashnfar.
There were 42 candidates in the commercial sector, comprising 36 men and 8 women. The names of the male candidates were: Zuhair bin Ali Al-Marhoumi, Ziad bin Bassam Al-Bassam, Bassam bin Jamil Akhdar, Mr. Essam Nas, Fahd bin Siban Al-Salmi, Khalaf bin Hawsan Al-Otaibi, Muhammad bin Sultan Al-Shahri, Dr. Ahmad bin Sultan Al-Dosari, Muhammad bin Salim Al-Harbi, Dr. Mutlaq bin Muhammad Al-Hazmi, Ahmad bin Ibrahim Muhammad, Ahmad bin Khalid Arif, Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Muhandis, Ihab bin Abdulaziz Al-Suleimani, Bandar bin Hassan Rawas, Hassan bin Shaker Al-Sahafi, Hamza bin Bakr Aoun, Abdulrahman bin Ali Al-Attas, Rami bin Abdulaziz Akram, Shadi bin Wajdi Zahid, Adel bin Abdullah Al-Samoum, Abdullah bin Saad Al-Qahtani, Abdullah bin Awad bin Laden, Adnan bin Mahmoud Metbuli, Fouad bin Amin Bouqri, Fayez bin Abdullah Al-Harbi, Muhammad bin Habib Khoja, Muhammad bin Ali al-Attas, Nayef bin Fawaz al-Sharif, Nassar bin Awad al-Salmi, Hajad bin Omar Gharam Allah al-Ghamdi, Hisham bin Abdulrahman al-Amoudi, Walid bin Ahmad Bahmadan, Yasser bin Hassan Trad. The female candidates are: Faten bint Yusuf Bandakji, Sarah bint Ayed Al-Ayed, Rania bint Suleiman Salama, Arij bint Ibrahim Alwan, and Dalia bint Siraj Al-Abdali Al-Sharif, Safaa bint Saeed Aweidah, Mona bint Hassan Sharafou, and Maymuna bint Abdulqadir Balfaqih. However, on the sixth day of Ramadan, five new candidates joined the race, bringing the total number of candidates to 58 men and businesswomen, This increase came after the completion of the required paperwork and supporting documents, and the approval of their names by the chairman of the Election Commission, Yahya Azzan. The applications of the following were accepted: Saeed Gharam Allah Al-Ghamdi, Faraj Allah Al-Jadani, Mustafa Sabri, Abdullah Al-Balawi, and Nasser Al-Farhan. On the seventh day of Ramadan, Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, Minister of Commerce and Industry, approved the exceptional inclusion of three new candidates who had applied for membership more than one year after their registration, even though the requirements stipulate that more than three years must have elapsed since the issuance of the registration. They are: Rania Al-Sahar, Hussein Al-Mushait, and Hisham Al-Dabbagh. Additionally, approval was granted to reclassify commercial sector candidate Fayez Al-Harbi as an industrial sector candidate. As a result, the number of candidates for the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors election rose to 61, 12 of whom are industrial candidates and 49 are commercial candidates. The candidates in the commercial sector remained unchanged with no withdrawals as of yesterday. As for the industrial sector, on the 12th of Ramadan, the current chairman of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Saleh Kamel, to withdraw from the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce election due to personal circumstances. He was followed the next day by Maher Al-Harbi, who wished to support the younger generation and make way for them, On the 15th of Shawwal, Saleh Bashnafar also decided to withdraw from the elections following his appointment as chairman of the Chamber of Commerce’s Warehouses Committee, and two weeks later, candidate Ibrahim Al-Gharwi withdrew from the elections. Thus, the final number of candidates for the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce elections, whose nominations were accepted, stands at 57—eight in the industrial sector and 49 in the commercial sector, comprising 40 men and nine women.