It is the day that everyone has been waiting for. Some people can’t wait for the tension to end. Others can’t wait to see the results. And others just want life to get back to normal. I’m sure the candidates didn’t get a wink last night either.

I was dropped off at the voting centre which is really the best way as it can get pretty congested with parking. In my case, the voting centre was a local school in the area where I live. As soon as I alighted from my car, girls started to thrust fliers into my hand asking me to please vote for so and so.

Another pushed an icy bottle of water at me which I refused but which I wished I had taken later. I was so pleased with the army of young girls enlisted to work in candidates’ committees that I just had to smile and take all their fliers, despite the fact that as soon as I arrived at the school gate, the smiling policemen told me I had to deposit them all on the table. I left them gladly.

Once inside, the voting is divided according to alphabetical order of first names. I had already consulted the Ministry of Interior site and found my voter registration number which is what the women organizing the queues do. They scribble your voter registration number on a piece of paper. Then I got into the queue. This meant sitting for a while in a line in the hall outside. Then sitting for a while in a classroom. Then sitting for a while outside the classroom until my turn came.

Once my turn came, I was asked to leave my handbag on the chair outside next to the guard. Two voters are allowed into the room at a time. At a long table, stood an Egyptian man (in all probability the judge) and a Kuwaiti woman. The judge read my name out loud and my voter registration number. Behind me were two rows of women seated upright, facing the judge and the woman at the voting station. They noted down my name and number by repeating it.

I was given a sheet with the names of all the candidates. I had already seen an example of this sheet with the names of our candidates. It had come with the regular newspaper at home. I was told to go to the stand and make my selections with the pen available there.

PHOTO from here

At the stand, I checked off the names of the candidates I wanted. Of course it is not allowed to choose more than four nor to write anything on the paper that will make it void.

I folded the ballot twice and walked over to place it in the clear box.

Photo from here

In an innovative development, local radio stations have been allocated to cover each of the 5 electoral districts:

1st district: Coverage on 103.7 FM

2nd district: Coverage on 97.5 FM

3rd district: Coverage on 87.9 FM

4th district: Coverage on 92.5 FM

5th district: Coverage on 99.7 FM

More here:

الدائرة الأولى محطة الغناء العربي 103.7.
• الدائرة الثانية اذاعة البرنامج الثاني 97.5.
• الدائرة الثالثة محطة الغناء القديم 87.9.
• الدائرة الرابعة الاذاعة الأجنبية الكلاسيك 92.5.
• الدائرة الخامسة محطة السوبر ستيشن 99.7.

تم تخصيص البرنامج العام ليكون هو الرابط الرئيسي بين كل الموجات والاعلان الرسمي للنتائج.