Oman will extend the voters' registration deadline for next month's polls for the country's consultative Shura council to boost participation, the official Omani News Agency reported on Tuesday.
It said that an August 30th voter registration deadline was extended to September 10 "to give an additional chance to Omani citizens to obtain voting cards that would allow them to cast their ballots."
Former council members and analysts have said that concern over job security and tribal loyalties were keeping many Omanis from standing for the polls, due to be held on September 14th, according to Reuters.
The Interior Ministry said in July that the number of Omanis who had registered to run for the election had dropped by 17 percent to 613 from 736 in the previous poll, said the agency.
Under Omani law, some 175,000 people or 25 percent of Omani men and women over the age of 21, are eligible to cast their ballots for the new 82-member Shura council, which advises the government mainly on economic matters, said Reuters - (Several Sources)
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