Muscat: Twenty candidates, including two women, have withdrawn their candidature from the elections for the seventh term of the Majlis Al Shura in Oman.
A total of 1,306 candidates, including 82 women, had filed their nominations but after withdrawals 1,286 candidates are in the fray, including a record number of 80 women.
"This (1,286 candidates) is probably the highest number contesting elections anywhere in in the region (GCC)," Khalid Al Haribi, who is contesting from Salalah, told Gulf News Tuesday.
He reckons that this reflects the keen interest among the average Omani in politics. "The large number of candidates is a positive sign and shows Omanis' interest in politics," he said, hoping that the keenness would also translate in a big voter turnout.
"It would be now interesting to see how authorities are able to cope with peoples' increased interest in politics and involve average person in decision making," he pointed out.
"People want to be part of decision making," he stressed, adding that until now there had been no practical step taken by government to include views of the average man in decision making.
After declaring the preliminary list, the election commission had given two weeks for citizens to file objections against candidates but there has been no objections raised. None of the candidate was disqualified.
With the publication of the list, the official campaigning for candidates starts. "This time around, the social media seems to be a favoruite tool among most candidates and women candidates are using it in a big way," said Al Haribi, who is the first head of the country's only independent think-tank - Tawasul.
Meanwhile, eligible votes will get until July 31 to complete registration process that involves getting their ID card registered as voters with the Royal Oman Police.
