Oman: Hundreds line up for Shura Council campaign

An electorate numbering around 600,000 will go to the polls on 25 October to elect a new 84-member Majlis Al-Shura (the eighth) from among 596 candidates, 20 of them women, according to a schedule set out by interior minister Sayyid Hamoud Bin Faisal Al-Busaidi. Electoral posters and other material have started appearing for elections, which the authorities have said should be preceded by “unprecedented” public campaigns. The Ministry of Interior has been insisting that candidates should not try to buy votes.