Women in Saudi Arabia Still Can’t Drive, But They Can Vote

“I think social media helped promote the elections”, said Mohammed Abdullah al-Kharji, deputy head of the electoral committee at King Salman Social Centre polling station in Riyadh.

Alsnari, a doctor, was one of 50 candidates in a central Riyadh district.

As many as 1,486,477 female and male voters were eligible to cast vote to choose 6,440 candidates in the municipal elections which closed at 05:00 p.m.

Albushi and her daughter were sharing chicken tenders on a recent afternoon on the women’s-only floor of Riyadh’s soaring Kingdom Center mall, where behind frosted glass barriers women shed the veils and long black robes they are expected to wear in public to take tea and shop at high-end stores such as, Givenchy and Valentino.

Aljazi al-Hossaini waged her 12-day campaign largely over the Internet, putting her manifesto on her website where both men and women could see it. Earlier, at least 120 female candidates dropped out of the running, nearly as many as men who dropped out, according to al-Hayat.

Several restrictions were imposed on female candidates during the campaign, including making them speak from behind a partition while addressing the public or having to be represented by a man.

Saudi officials said the results of the election would be released Sunday.

‘We are looking at it as an opportunity to exercise our right and to push for more’.

Except for Vatican City, where male cardinals elect the pope, Saudi Arabia is the last country in the world to bar women from elections.

Many men in Saudi Arabia don’t view it the same way though, and there is a deeply held belief that women should stay out of public life.

Amna Ahmed, a 23-year-old Quran teacher, didn’t trouble to register to vote because she also believes Saudi women have no place in government. “If we let her out of the house to do such business, who’s going to care for my sons?”

In announcing the reforms, King Abdullah said women in Saudi Arabia “have demonstrated positions that expressed correct opinions and advice”. Saudi women are also governed by guardianship laws that require them to have the permission of male relatives, usually the father or husband, in order to marry, obtain a passport, travel overseas or access higher education.

A strict separation of the sexes in public facilities meant that female candidates could not directly meet the majority of voters – men – during their campaigns.

In Saudi Arabia there are 284 councils which are elected by the citizens.

As in other aspects of Saudi society, voting has been segregated.

There have only been two other such elections – in 2005 and 2011 – and only men took part previously.

The candidates are vying for about 2,100 council seats, with another 1,050 seats appointed with approval from the king.

Whereas the councils only had advisory powers before, they now will be able to vote on some local government issues. The candidates serve four-year periods that commence on January 1.

Their chance of success, however, is “slim to zero”, according to Karen Young, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute.