| SAUDI ARABIAN WOMAN VOTES FOR THE FIRST TIME |
Saudi Arabia is on the brink
of change like never seen before, as at least six women have been elected to
public office, as preliminary results published by the state media on Sunday
show. Yesterday’s elections into the municipal councils were groundbreaking as
for the first time women in the country were allowed to vote and to run for
office.
The female winners include
Salma al-Oteibi in the Mecca region, Lama al-Suleiman and Rasha Hufaithi in
Jeddah, Hanouf al-Hazimi in Al Jouf province, and Sanaa al-Hammam and Masoumah
Abdelreda in the Ahsa region.
Even with the rights now extended
to women, restrictions still remained which made it difficult for women who
wanted to run for office and vote such as the barring of female candidates from
speaking to male voters and the requirement for segregated campaign offices.
There were also complaints of women finding it difficult to prove their
identity and residency and also the limited number of registration centers.
All that said, allowing
women to vote was viewed as a good move for female equality and in the end, 979
women candidates and 130,637 women voters registered for the election compared
to a total of 1.3 million male voters and 5,938 men who ran for the local
offices in charge of planning and development issues.
Half of the seats would be
filled by the voters’ choice while the remaining seats will be taken up by
people selected by the King.
The role of the Saudi women
in the kingdom has come slowly with officials first muting the idea of allowing
women to vote in 2005. The late King Abdullah had issued a decree in 2011 allowing
women to vote in municipal elections and stand as candidates. In 2013 he
ordered that at least 20% of seats in the Consultative Council be set aside for
women. This is the council that advises the King and can propose laws. He also
appointed 30 women as members of the council.
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