Over 24,000 voters register for Sharjah polls

Close to 25,000 citizens - 13,794 men and 11,158 women - have registered for the upcoming Sharjah Consultative Council (SCC) elections. A top official has said that 31.8 per cent of the 78,457 eligible voters in the emirate have registered for the elections that will be held on January 30-31.
Addressing a Press conference, Mansour bin Nassar, Head of the Supreme Committee of the SCC Elections, said: "We have completed the first phase of the SCC elections, laying a solid foundation for the second phase, which will finalise candidacy and involves ... voting for those who deserve to be chosen to represent the people of Sharjah in the august body."
Al Mansouri explained that the number of eligible voters in the emirate who have registered for the polls is "encouraging".
According to official statistics, the majority of Sharjah's population is young and below 40 (14,926), while 7,507 citizens are in the age group of 40 to 60. About 2,519 are aged over 60.
The emirate has 9,950 citizens who are university graduates or equal, while 6,025 citizens have studied up to intermediate level. Over 3,720 citizens have studied up to high school.
Nasser said: "I would also like to thank the sons and daughters of Sharjah who came forward to take part in this historic electoral experience and registered, bringing the number of registered citizens to 25,000.
"This figure, given the novelty of the first-in-the region experience, makes us proud of the citizens of Sharjah."
The registration process for the SCC elections was formally launched on December 6 and continued till December 19.
The SCC Electoral College has been divided into nine constituencies. Elections to the SCC have been held since 2006.
afkarali@khaleejtimes.com

• Sharjah