No Women Allowed to Vote in Saudi Election

[onedomino]

No forum for this, so I'll put it here.

February 10, 2005
Saudi Arabian Men Go to the Polls in First National Elections
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/10/international/middleeast/10cnd-saudi.html?pagewanted=print&position= (may require registration)

IYADH, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 10 - The voters came - princes and the impoverished, young and old, the highly educated and the illiterate - casting their ballots today in the initial stage of the kingdom's first nationwide elections.
Women were barred and widespread apathy during the December registration period meant that just 149,000 eligible voters out of almost 600,000 in the capital district were on the rolls.
But the electric atmosphere generated by the unprecedented campaigns of the past 12 days prompted voters at some polling stations to stand in line-unusual in Saudi Arabia-to cast their ballots for half the seats in rather toothless municipal councils.
"Normally any Saudi would get edgy waiting in these lines for 30 minutes - they don't like it, but they will get used to it," said Mohammed al-Nofeyi, the director of a polling station at a middle school in a low income neighborhood in southern Riyadh.
Turnout figures were not immediately available. Prince Mansour bin Mutaab bin Abdel Aziz, a professor of public administration at King Saud University, who supervised the election planning, described early reports indicated a "reasonable" turnout across the capital region.
At one polling station in the Maather neighborhood - an older, upscale district of sprawling, walled compounds where many princes live - some 700 of 976 voters had shown up by the time the polls closed at 5 p.m. A few last-minute stragglers were allowed through the doors to fill out their paper ballots.
In the relatively poor neighborhood where Mr. Nofeyi was watching the rolls, a few less than 1,000 out of 1,392 registered voters had shown up by 2 p.m., with the long lines forming under crisp blue winter skies right after noon prayers.
"It should have happened a long time ago, but it's a beautiful feeling that one's voice counts," said Fahd Al-Hamady, a 26-year-old bank employee.
Those not participating said they had stayed away because they viewed the entire process as far too small a step toward democratic reform.
"What's the purpose of the elections?" (they just don't get it) said Badr Al-Oteiby, a 23-year-old student majoring in Arabic at King Saud University, who said he had registered but was not voting. "It won't do anything. Everything will stay the same, there will be no improvement, and there will be nothing new. It's become a game, not real elections."
The three-stage elections are for half the seats in 178 councils across the kingdom, with 38 councils in the capital region the focus of today's voting. The mayor and the other half of the members will continue to be appointed, ensuring that elected councilors remain a minority.
Senior government officials said that this was necessary to guarantee that the councils retained the necessary expertise to run the cities, and because democracy had to be introduced gradually in a conservative, tribal culture.
"The steps have to come slowly so the society can accept it," said the mayor of Riyadh, Prince Abdel Aziz bin Mohammed bin Ayaf Al-Mugrin, who spent the day circulating among various polling stations. "But there is no going back."
The prince cited the example of the late shah of Iran as an area ruler who pushed modernization on his people too fast and paid the price by losing his throne.
But a growing domestic awareness of the limited political freedom Saudis enjoy, combined with some outside pressure, is pushing change to the degree that the ruling dynasty introduced the limited vote.
The mayor and a few other princes said that in casting their ballots, they did not feel as if they were diluting the power of the clan that put its Saud name on the kingdom when it was founded in 1932; rather, they said, they were just formalizing an old Bedouin tradition of building consensus.
One of the questions surrounding the voting was to what extent voters would chose along tribal lines, and whether the usually well organized religious clergy would somehow sweep the polls.
But many voters appeared to be making somewhat considered choices, difficult in light of the fact that in Riyadh itself almost 100 men were competing for each seat.
In recent days, newspapers arrived thick with advertisements, publishing special supplements to handle the load. Traffic circles and billboards were festooned with campaign advertisements, most paid for by real estate tycoons whose pictures featured prominently in every poster. That change was somewhat startling for the kingdom, as strict Muslim principles governing advertising before banned all human faces and the religious police ensured that huge imported billboards for things like Nike sport equipment had the faces blacked out.
Many voters interviewed at random said they had spent time studying the newspapers-television advertising was banned-to learn the qualifications of the men running rather than visiting ubiquitous campaign tents.
Abdul Alilah Al-Omairi said he wanted to vote for at least one cleric. Someone who was an expert in Islamic law needed to be on the council when matters such as women's rights were discussed, he said, but he did not want all clergymen.
"The council has to be all-encompassing," he said as he scribbled names off the master list onto a little slip of paper. "It's like a soccer team, they can't all play on defense or all on offense."
There were no official reports of any disturbances, and the heavy police presence at some polling stations was kept discreetly out of sight, despite the violent, Al-Qaeda inspired attacks that marred life here over the past 18 months. Election officials reported some minor campaign infractions like the banned last-minute distribution of flyers at some polling stations.
Many family members showed up together, and some fathers brought their young sons along to witness an historic first.
Abu Nasser Mohammed Al-Kahtany, a 60-year-old dressed in a long brown wool cape for winter and a flowing robe, confessed he did not quite know what all the fuss was about. The Saud dynasty ruling without any accountability was fine by him.
"It is a great life, we are citizens and we live like kings," Mr. Kahtany enthused. "The state spends, nurtures and teaches. Everything here is for free. It is bliss. I am voting for the sake of our guardian, the state. They asked us to vote and so I'm voting."

 

[Minuteman]

I guess a "half democracy" is still better than no democracy right.

Why aren't we ENFORCING democracy here but doing it in Iraq??

 

[onedomino]

I guess a "half democracy" is still better than no democracy right. Why aren't we ENFORCING democracy here but doing it in Iraq??

Good question about our attitude toward the Saudis, Minuteman. But not allowing women to vote is not "half democracy." It is zero democracy.

 

[Avatar4321]

I guess a "half democracy" is still better than no democracy right.

Why aren't we ENFORCING democracy here but doing it in Iraq??

Saudi arabia is on the list im sure.

 

[Annie]

Good question about our attitude toward the Saudis, Minuteman. But not allowing women to vote is not "half democracy." It is zero democracy.

Truth is the Saudi elections were bogus, but I don't think it's because of the women part. I believe in equal enfranchisement, but remember how long it took in the US. The real problem was the lack of transparency and voices of opposition.