Municipal elections in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

n towns and cities, initially planned for 31 October 2009, were held on 29 September 2011 (a week after the initial date of 22 September 2011). Women were not allowed to participate in the elections. Women campaigned for the right to participate in the official elections and planned to create parallel municipal councils.

Background

Municipal elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

were originally planned to be held on 31 October 2009 in Saudi Arabia. The elections were not held in 2009. Governmental authorities stated that the delay was caused by the need to "expand the electorate and study the possibility of allowing women to vote." ''

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'' described the announcement that an election would be held in 2011 as having "coincided with rumblings of dissent in Saudi Arabia stemming from the wave of political unrest in the Arab world." On 22–23 March 2011, officials of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural affairs announced that the elections would be held on 22 September 2011. Half of the local council seats were to be decided in the election and the other half were to be appointed. The councils have "little power".

Electoral process

Voter registration took place from 23 April to 19 May or 28 July. Candidate registration took place from 28 May to 2 June. The period of electoral campaigning was to be decided after candidate registration had closed. The municipal councils were to be created in October, following the election, for a term of 6 years.

Electoral commission

The Ministry of Municipal and Rural affairs set up an 11-member electoral commission, headed by Abdul-Rahman al-Dahmash and an executive committee that "will facilitate the operations of the special electoral commission, and

ill ILL may refer to: * '' I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom * Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland * Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility * Interlibra ...

take all the necessary measures to ensure the success of the municipal elections."

Women's participation

In late March, the Ministry of Municipal and Rural affairs stated that women would not vote in the 2011 elections "because of the kingdom's social customs".

King Saud University King Saud University (KSU, ar, جامعة الملك سعود) is a public university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Established in 1957 by King Saud bin Abdulaziz to address the country's skilled worker shortage, it is the first university in the K ...

history lecturer and human rights activist Hatoon al-Fassi involved in campaigning for women's participation in elections stated that women had decided to create their own municipal councils in parallel to the men-only elections. Al-Fassi stated that women creating their own municipal councils or participating in "real elections" were both legal under Saudi law and electoral commission head al-Dahmash agreed with her. Saudi Arabian women organised through the "Baladi" (''My Country'') and Saudi Women's Revolution to campaign for women's participation in the election. From 23–25 April, women in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam tried to register as electors. The '' Gulf News'' said that "strong public opinion ... supporting women's participation in the election process" followed local newspapers' publication of photos of women waiting in queues to register for the election. Fawzia Al Hani, chair of the "Baladi" ''Facebook'' campaign, said that Saudi Arabian law states that women have the right to vote and to stand as candidates. One of the women whose registration had been rejected,

Samar Badawi Samar bint Muhammad Badawi ( ar, سمر بدوي; born 28 June 1981) is a Saudi Arabian human rights activist. She and her father filed court cases against each other. Badawi's father accused her of disobedience under the Saudi Arabian male gua ...

, filed a lawsuit in the Grievances Board, a non- Sharia court, against the Ministry of Municipal and Rural affairs, claiming that there was no law banning women as voters or candidates and that the refusal was illegal. She cited Articles 3 and 24 of the

Arab Charter on Human Rights The Arab Charter on Human Rights (ACHR), adopted by the Council of the League of Arab States on 22 May 2004, affirms the principles contained in the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Human Right ...

, which refer to general and election-specific anti-discrimination, respectively. Badawi requested the Grievances Board to suspend the electoral procedures pending the Board's decision and to order the electoral authorities to register her as a voter and as eligible to be a candidate. On 27 April 2011, the Grievances Board accepted to hear her case at a later date. The Board's final decision was that Badawi's case was "premature". According to the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

, Badawi was the first person to file a lawsuit for women's suffrage in Saudi Arabia. Badawi also applied to the Municipal Elections Appeal Committee to reverse the refusal of her registration. Her application was refused on the grounds that appeals against registration refusals must take place within three days of the refusal. In an annual speech on 25 September 2011 before the Shura Council, King Abdullah stated that Saudi women would be able to run and cast ballots in the 2015 municipal elections.Saudi king: Women can vote in local elections
''USA Today''. 25 September 2011.

Results

The elections covered 1056 seats in the councils of 285 municipalities around Saudi Arabia.

References

External links

Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs (MOMRA)
(Arabic)
women's suffrage "Baladi" campaign
(Arabic) {{2011–2012 Saudi Arabian protests 2011 elections in Asia 2011 in Saudi Arabia Elections in Saudi Arabia 2011–2012 Saudi Arabian protests Municipal elections in Saudi Arabia