The data of the new voter registration lists for this year, during February and March 2023, was 2,547 voters — 1,553 men, or 61% and 944 women, or 39% — which means the registration rate has declined.
The Al-Qabas daily said this the new registration are from all five constituencies unlike 2022 which witnessed the registration of a total of 16,949 male and female voters, with a greater decline than 2021, which recorded 44,072 male and female voters. The numbers registered for this year are the lowest in 42 years since the date of the return of parliamentary life in 1981.
According to the data obtained by Al-Qabas, the 2,547 male and female voters were distributed this year on the basis of 1,350 registered in February, compared to 1,193 registered last March saying the registration declined by 73 percent.
This significant decline in the voter registration movement raises many questions to explain its reasons, which may include confusion among a section of the electorate and their mistaken belief that voter registration continues automatically according to the civil card address, as was the case according to the decree issued last August without the need to apply personally, as was the case in the past years.
One of the reasons for reluctance to register this year may be that it is the voter’s message to the general political class, and it is an expression of the prevailing state of frustration among the electorate with the feasibility of electoral participation.
