Omanis will head to the polls today to exercise their franchise to choose 86 members to the 9th term of Majlis Ash’shura. According to the Ministry of Interior, electoralcommittees in different governorates have already completed preparations for the elections which will be done using electronic voting system called ‘Sawtak’. “All the 110 centres in the Sultanate are ready to receive voters. This year, there are 19 designated centres each for male and female voters in addition to 72 general centres”, the ministry said in a statement. A total of 637 candidates, including 40 women, are in fray for 86-member shura elections which will see 713,335 voters, including 375,801 males and 337,534 females casting their votes.

In the 2015 elections, there were 590 candidates including 20 women. The polling centres will open from 7 am to 7 pm and each centre will have ‘Sawtak’, means ‘Your Voice’. The announcement regarding the results are expected to be made before midnight. Omani voters outside the Sultanate already cast their votes using distance voting on smartphones. The Election Committee had earlier said that voters from Al Wusta, Dhofar and Musandam governorates can vote in Muscat for the elections. These unified elections are established to facilitate employees from outside the governorate, the committee said in an online statement. “A unified centre has been established in Bousher for voters from Al Wusta Governorate, Dhofar and Musandam,” it said.

In addition, unified election centres in the Wilayat of Haima, in Al Wusta, the Wilayat of Adam, Al Dakhiliyah, and a unified election centre in the Wilayat of Khasab in Musandam Governorate have been established for all voters from outside the governorate. In this term’s elections, the Ministry of Interior introduced the electronic voting system in all the polling stations to enable the voters to cast their votes easily. Besides, the ministry launched a dedicated smart phone application which was made available on Apple and Android app stores. “Through the application the users can view the final lists of voters and candidates as well as identify the locations of the voting centres and issue a voter’s attendance certificate. The final results can also be viewed on the application”, the ministry said in the statement.