Prominent Saudi businesswoman Aghareed Ehsan Abduljawad has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the Eastern Province (Asharqia Chamber). This was for the first time a Saudi woman is being elected to the nine-member Board of Directors of Asharqia Chamber. Aghareed thanked the business community in the Eastern Province for their trust reposed in her. “You have been instrumental in opening a new phase through electing me as the first woman in the Asharqia Chamber board. We can continue work to support the march of our beloved nation toward a bright future,” she said in a statement on her Twitter account, adding: “Thank you all, you are the change and you are the one who draws the future.” Aghareed is the daughter of the well-known business leader Ehsan Abduljawad, who is also former member of the Shoura Council and chairman of the board of Abduljawad Holding Co. She served as chairperson of the board of directors of Tamkean Arabia, a real estate development company, and financial manager of Abduljawad Holding Co. Aghareed scored the second highest number of votes among the elected members, with obtaining 5026 votes. Hamad Hamoud Al-Hammad bagged the highest number of 5,464 votes. Nasser Abdulaziz Al-Ansari came third with 5000 votes. Other elected members are Saad Fadl Al-Buainain (4864 votes), Nasser Rashid Al-Hajri (4614), Hamad Muhammad Al-Khalidi (4382), Hamad Muhammad Al-Boali (4168), Muhammad Abdul Mohsen Al-Rashed (3632) and Fahd Bin Hazal Al-Mutairi (1722). The election supervising committee announced results of the polling held to the 19th session of the Board of Directors for the period of 1443-1447 AH after the end of the voting process on Wednesday through the electronic voting system. There were 18 candidates in the fray to nine seats for which elections were held and more than 16,000 male and female voters had cast their votes. The committee disqualified one candidate for the violations of the rules contained in Article 20 of the executive regulations of the Chambers of Commerce Law. The Ministry of Commerce, in accordance with the new Chambers of Commerce Law and its executive regulations, supervises the elections to boards of directors of the chambers of commerce and industry in various regions of the Kingdom with the aim of enhancing transparency and raising the efficiency of chambers’ performance.