More Oman voters register for post-protest election

MUSCAT (Reuters) - Oman will hold elections on October 15 for its advisory Shura Council with the number of registered voters up by one third from four years ago, the official ONA news agency said on Sunday.

The usually tranquil Gulf sultanate was hit by protests starting in February, following uprisings that toppled rulers in Egypt and Tunisia. Omanis focussed their demands on higher wages, more jobs and an end to graft rather than a change of government. Many also called for more powers for the council.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who has ruled Oman since 1970, promised after the unrest that the Shura Council would have some legislative powers, in addition to announcing programs to create jobs and fight corruption to curb protests.

More than 522,000 people had registered to vote for the 84-member Shura Council, compared with 388,000 in the last election in 2007, ONA quoted Mohammed bin Sultan Al-Busaidi, an Interior Ministry undersecretary, as saying.

Districts with a population of 30,000 elect two members, while smaller districts choose one. The first elections were held in 1991.

The voters this time will make up nearly 33 percent of Oman's local population of 1.6 million people. About 40 percent of the people in the sultanate are under the voting age of 21, according to official figures.

"The sultan has promised the new Shura members would be able to legislate but it is not clear yet in what capacity," Abdulla Al-Harthy, a former protest organizer, told Reuters.

"But what is clear, is that the decision is aimed to please his people to make sure there will be no more protests in the future."

(Reporting by Saleh Al-Shaibany; Editing by Sophie Hares)