JEDDAH/DUBAI: Saudi Arabian men voted in only the second nationwide election in the country’s history Thursday, but nearly empty polling booths in the second city, Jeddah, showed few were enthusiastic about voting for municipal councils with little power.

In a year when demands for democracy rocked other major Arab nations, only 1.08 million Saudi men even registered to vote in elections to choose just half the members of municipal councils.

There are 18 million Saudi nationals, but political parties are banned, campaigning is strictly controlled and women will not be allowed to vote until the next poll in four years.

“It doesn’t seem as if there is enthusiasm about it this time,” said Khalid al-Dakhil, a newspaper columnist in the capital Riyadh. “Last time people talked about the elections everywhere. This time you don’t have that atmosphere.”

In the first Saudi municipal elections in 2005, turnout was around 50 percent and candidates used lavish hospitality to attract voters.

This campaigning was limited to adverts in newspapers or posters, none of which referred to the big issues that divide liberal and conservative Saudis.

The councils’ limited role includes approving a municipal budget, suggesting planning regulations and overseeing city projects, said an election official.

Even in Jeddah, where deadly flash floods this year prompted accusations the municipality had failed to build proper defenses or prevent construction in areas at risk, voting was slow.

At a city-owned building in the well-heeled Al-Rawda neighborhood of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port, officials had laid out signs marking off two separate lines for voters queuing to reach the air-conditioned polling booths.

By mid-morning, two hours after voting began, constituents were arriving one or two at a time and appeared to be basing their decisions on word-of-mouth endorsements from friends or family.

“I’m voting for somebody my friends told me about,” said a middle-aged man who did not want to be identified. “He’s a professional who loves his job and wants to improve the city.”

Moments earlier he had asked the election officers sitting behind wooden desks for their opinion on which candidate he should vote for.

It was no busier in the poorer Hai al-Samir district, where six voters arrived in 20 minutes to cast their ballots.The area was badly hit by the January floods and some of those who did vote said they hoped the council would improve matters.

“Our area is considered one of the most troubled and needs a lot of work,” said Yahya al-Harbi. “The candidate promised a lot of new infrastructure.”

Without political parties or a track record for politicians, voters have found it difficult to distinguish between a plethora of candidates fighting for only a few council seats.

“People are new to this experience,” said Dakhil. “Many candidates do not have that long a record on the basis of which you can judge.”

Saeed al-Saleh, one of 117 candidates fighting for seven seats on the Jeddah council, was observing voting at a polling station in the low-income Aziziya neighborhood.

“It looks like there’s low turnout and I think the reason is that in the last elections the candidates did not fulfil their promises,” he said. “At the moment it seems the only people voting are voting for their friends or family.”