Intekhab revolutionises Arab world’s first app-based elections

Muscat – A milestone election of the Majlis A’Shura came to an end on Sunday night with 65.8% voters casting their ballot to choose 90 members for the tenth term of the shura.

According to the Ministry of Interior, 496,279 of the 753,260 registered voters – 65.8% – exercised their franchise for the tenth term.

Voter turnout was 16% more than the last shura elections.

These elections saw the second highest voter turnout. Elections for the seventh term in 2011 had 76% turnout.

The vote was to elect 90 members from 843 candidates, of which 32 were women. Voting started at 8am via the Intekhab app and concluded at 7pm. Results were announced within an hour.

The election was historic as it was the first time in the Arab world that a mobile app was used for the electoral process, serving as a blueprint for other nations seeking to modernise their electoral systems.

Continuing the abyssal representation of women in the shura, no female candidate was elected.

H E Sayyid Hamoud Faisal al Busaidi, Minister of Interior, accompanied by members of the Main Committee of the Majlis A’Shura’s tenth term elections, visited the operations centre to oversee the election process.

H E Sayyid Hamoud described the modernisation of the electoral process as “unprecedented”.

“I congratulate all those who were elected to the Majlis A’Shura and wish them success in performing their duties in order to achieve the national goals.”

He lauded the efforts made to provide communications services in all niyabats, wilayats and governorates. “The services enabled citizens to cast their vote electronically, wherever they were,” he added

Talal Said al Ma’amari, CEO of Omantel, informed that the security systems operated efficiently and there were no reports of cyber attacks.

“This exercise proves that technology can be utilised in complex and sensitive operations like the electoral process, which promises to bring about fruitful outcomes,” said Ma’amari. He praised the efforts of the government and private entities to streamline the process.

Oman Human Rights Commission (OHRC) monitored the vote. A team from the commission visited the main operations centre of the elections at the Ministry of Interior.

OHRC commended the technological breakthrough, while pointing out that the process facilitated smooth conduct and encouraged public participation.

In particular, OHRC valued the artificial intelligence technology used in the app which assisted visually impaired voters through a speech-to-text feature.