Elections were held in Saudi Arabia on 12 December 2015 for municipal councils, which have limited decision-making powers on local issues such as rubbish collection and street maintenance. The previous two elections, in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, were for half the council seats and were open to male candidates and voters only. The 2015 election was for two thirds of the council seats, on 284 municipal councils, with both male and female candidates and voters. This was the first election in Saudi Arabia in which women were allowed to vote, the first in which they were allowed to run for office, and the first in which women were elected as

politicians A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Background

Half the seats in municipal councils in Saudi Arabia were chosen in men-only elections in 2005 and 2011. The municipal councils reportedly have "little power" in Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy. Saudi Arabian women campaigned for the right to participate in the 2011 elections, organizing through the "Baladi" (''My Country'') and Saudi Women's Revolution campaigns for women's right to participate. Several women tried to register as electors in

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...

, Riyadh, and

Dammam Dammam ( ar, الدمّام ') is the fifth-most populous city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh, Jeddah, Mecca, and Medina. It is the capital of the Eastern Province. With a total population of 1,252,523 as of 2020. The judicial and administrative ...

. A few days before the 2011 election took place, King Abdullah announced that women would be able to participate as voters and candidates in the 2015 election. In the 2015 municipal elections, two-thirds of the council seats were elected positions, and women were allowed as candidates and voters.

Preparations

Voter registration started on 16 August 2015 in Medina and Mecca, and elsewhere on 22 August, to continue for a 21-day period. Two women voters registered in Medina and Mecca on 16 August.

Hatoon al-Fassi Hatoon Ajwad al-Fassi () is a Saudi Arabian historian, author and women's rights activist. She is an associate professor of women's history at King Saud University in Saudi Arabia, where she has been employed since 1989 and at the International ...

of the Baladi campaign said that Baladi had intended to organize training sessions for voter education but was blocked by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs. About 131,000 women and about 1.35 million men registered to vote.

Candidates

Male candidates

There were 5,938 men registered as candidates.

Female candidates

There were 978 women registered as candidates; however, many were barred from registering by the authorities. No reasons were given; however, it was noted that a number of them were advocates for the expansion of women's rights in the Kingdom. Haifa al-Hababi, 36 years old as of August 2015, was a candidate. She stated, "Change the system. Change is life. The government has given us this tool and I intend to use it." Two women candidates were disqualified.

Loujain al-Hathloul Loujain al-Hathloul ( ar, لجين الهذلول ''Lujjayn al-Hadhlūl''; born 31 July 1989) is a Saudi women's rights activist, a social media figure, and political prisoner. She is a graduate of the University of British Columbia. Al-Hathloul ...

, who had been detained for two months after driving from the United Arab Emirates to Saudi Arabia in December 2015, was disqualified;

Nassima al-Sadah Nassima al-Sadah (also ''al-Sada'' or ''al-Sasa'', ar, نسيمة السادة; born 13 August 1974) is a Shia Islam in Saudi Arabia, Shia Human rights in Saudi Arabia, human rights writer and activist from the "2017–19 Qatif unrest, restive Shi ...

, a Shia human rights activist from Qatif, was also disqualified. As women in Saudi Arabia are not permitted to address men who are not related to them, women candidates could only speak directly to women voters. At men's campaign meetings, they had to either speak from behind a partition, or have a man read their speech on their behalf. Many women also stated they could not afford the high cost of running an election campaign.

Results

The turnout for the election was reported as 47%, split down as 82% of the 132,000 female voters registered and 44% of the 1.35m male voters registered. In results released to the Associated Press on 13 December, 20 female candidates were elected to the approximately 2,100 municipal council seats being contested. Salma bint Hizab al-Oteibi became the first elected female politician in Saudi Arabia as a result of the election, when she won a seat on the council in

Madrakah Madrakah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia. It is noted as being the first Saudi municipality to elect a woman, Salma bint Hizab al-Oteibi, to its respective Municipal council. See also * List of cities and towns in Sa ...

in Mecca province.

References

External links

Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs (MOMRA)
(Arabic)
women's suffrage "Baladi" campaign
(Arabic) {{Saudi Arabian elections 2015 elections in Asia 2015 in Saudi Arabia Elections in Saudi Arabia Municipal elections in Saudi Arabia Women's suffrage