Article Added On: January 31, 2005 - over 3 years ago
Title: Top Saudi diplomat predicts women will vote in future elections
Author: EDITH M. LEDERER
Publication: AP/CP, canada.com
Publication Date: January 01, 2005 - over 3 years ago
Faith Groups: Muslim
Themes: religion in politics

Abstract: A top Saudi diplomat and member of the royal family predicted that women will be allowed to vote in future elections, giving women in the strictly segregated Islamic country a political voice for the first time.

January 31, 2005

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) - A top Saudi diplomat and member of the royal family predicted that women will be allowed to vote in future elections, giving women in the strictly segregated Islamic country a political voice for the first time.

The Saudi government has responded to international pressure to democratize the Middle East by promising municipal elections across the country, with the first stage on Feb. 10 in the capital, Riyadh. The elections will be the first since the 1960s, when local polls were held in a few cities.

Prince Turki al-Faisal, the country's former intelligence chief and now the Saudi ambassador to Britain, said late Friday that the United States, France, Switzerland and many other countries waited many years after giving men the right to vote before extending that privilege to women.

"Since this is our first election, probably we will be better and have women vote the next time around," he said after a dinner on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

Abdulrahman al-Tuwaijri, secretary general of Saudi Arabia's Supreme Economic Council, said the law adopted for the municipal elections "doesn't make any distinction between the voter, between men and women."

"It just says a voter in a very neutral sense," he said in an interview.

Al-Tuwaijri said he believes the vote for women "is coming" because the organizers of the municipal election said the only obstacle to their participation was "organizing the places, how they vote."

"It's not because the law doesn't allow," he said.

"I think (in) the next election, women will be there, so it's a big step, yes," al-Tuwaijri said.

Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy with an unelected Consultative Council that acts like a parliament. Political parties are banned and press freedoms are limited.

But the elections for the municipal councils will give Saudi men the chance to participate - if only in a limited manner - in decision-making.

The Saudi government announced in October that women could not compete or vote in the municipal elections, dashing the hopes of progressive Saudis, including some women who had planned to run for office.

Some women saw the move as acquiescing to conservative fears that the kingdom is moving too fast on reforms, and considered it yet another indignity in a country where they need their husbands' permission to study, travel or work.

But others said they wouldn't trust themselves to judge whether a candidate is more than just a handsome face.

Some 150,000 men have registered to vote in the first phase of the municipal elections in Riyadh. Polling in the eastern and southwestern regions will follow, starting March 3. Voters in northern parts of the country will vote April 21.

Turki did not indicate whether women might vote in the later municipal elections or in subsequent elections, possibly at the regional and national level.

For women to vote, women-only registration centres and polling stations would be needed, and women would need photo identity cards.

Many women in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and ruled by Sharia law, have balked at getting the ID cards - introduced three years ago - because the photographs would show their faces unveiled.

Women are allowed to vote in most other Mideast countries where elections are held and men vote, including Bahrain, Iran, Yemen, Lebanon and Egypt. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi women are expected to cast ballots in Sunday's election.

In Kuwait, where women serve in senior government posts, there has been a long tug-of-war over the vote for women. Despite support by the emir, tribal conservatives and religious extremists have blocked attempts in Parliament to amend a more than four-decade-old law restricting to men the right to vote and run for office.

Hanaa Alsyead, general manger of Olayan Financing Company, which is headquartered in Riyadh, said the prospect of women voting in future elections in Saudi Arabia was "excellent."

In the upcoming municipal election in Riyadh, she said, "there were no facilities made for women to go and vote."

"This is why they would like to have it in the next time. So that from now (on) they could prepare for that - and we fully understand that," Alsyead said in an interview.

"We stand by our men and we have trust in them," she said.

"Next time we'll vote. It's simple as that - he (Prince Turki) said it."