Candidates in municipal council elections are holding meetings in a number of commercial centers to attract votes and gain the confidence of people.

In these gatherings, they are talking about election culture, the importance of women’s participation and achievement of the “main goal.”

During a visit to one such gathering in the Eastern Province, one of the candidates said that during Eid holidays an intensive program was set up to inform women about the election process, its importance and future implications. She visited women’s coffee shops where women appreciated the idea.

However, there are people who say that women’s participation in these elections is just for “decorative purposes” and that their presence does not have any impact on development of the region and achievement of the goals, this candidate said.

Only a few listeners wanted to know her platform and asked questions about the details, she said.

Another candidate, who does not wish to be named, said that meeting in gatherings before beginning of the next phase of campaigning was against the election law. The monitoring committee will begin its work during the phase of canvassing to track violations and stop candidates from crossing limits. Punishments will be announced soon with the beginning of next phase, after announcement of candidates and registration of voters.

Other women candidates said that using the Eid holidays to canvass votes and sending messages to society was nothing but a personal activity. Muna Ali, a member of the election campaign, said during holidays the gatherings of women were used for introduction to win the trust of society.

“We tried to relate what women can contribute, like communicating with officials for social development. The objective of candidature is not personal status as some people think,” she said.