The third and last round of the Saudi municipal elections are over. The votes still need to be counted and winners announced, but in any case, they will probably turn out relatively similar to the previous two rounds.

Riyadh, 21 April (AKI) – Saudis went to the polls on Thursday for the third and final phase of the Kingdom’s historic municipal elections after twelve days of intense campaigning, which officially ended on Wednesday. Some 140,000 Saudis were expected to vote in the poll, but they are only electing half the members of their municipal councils. The other half will be appointed by the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs.

The seven constituencies included in the final phase of voting are the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, Qasim, Tabuk, Hail, Jof and the Northern Frontier province.

The municipal elections – which are the first to be held in Saudi Arabia for some forty years – were welcomed around the world, as a first step towards greater democracy in the Kingdom.

A BBC regional analyst named Roger Hardy is making stuff up rather than assert the why’s of the low voter turnout.

BBC regional analyst Roger hardy says religion and tribal affiliation are important factors in the elections, and Saudis have reacted to it all with varying emotions.

Low voter registration suggests many are apathetic.

But for others, our correspondent adds, the polls are both a novel experience and a potential turning-point.

From the previous article, there are actually many reasons why voter turnout is low — something that needs to be fixed and adjusted for future elections. One, women were not allowed to vote. This has been promised to change in 2009, though the reasons why they couldn’t at this time were dubious at best. Logistically, there were not enough separate female facilities available in order for them to vote. Of course, they simply could have been integrated, but I guess we’re taking what we can get here.

The article notes several other reasons as well:

Other voting criteria prevents anyone under 21 and members of the armed forces from voting. Electors must also have lived in their district for at least twelve months prior to the vote. All of this has reduced the number eligible to register and vote to just 3 million, from a 24-million strong population which features a large percentage of (non-eligible) foreigners.

So, apathy? In some, but certainly not the vast majority. Simply, when the potential pool of voters is sliced in half so many times, there ends up being very few left.