Historic poll victory for Saudi women

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) – Saudi voters elected 20 women for local government seats, according to results released to The Associated Press on Sunday, a day after women voted and ran in elections for the first time in the country’s history.

Her daughter, Sahar Hassan Nasief, said the experience marked “the beginning” of greater rights for women in Saudi Arabia, who are not allowed to drive and are governed by laws that give men the ultimate say over aspects of their lives like marriage, travel and higher education.

Covered from head to toe and driven by male guardians, Saudi women voted Saturday for the first time, in a tentative step towards easing sex discrimination in the ultra-conservative Islamic kingdom.

A Saudi woman casts her ballot at a polling station in the coastal city of Jeddah, on December 12, 2015, during municipal elections.

At least four women are confirmed elected to public office in the country’s capital, Riyadh.

Salma bint Hazab al-Otaibi won a seat in the Madrika district of Makkah, the holiest city of Islam.

Her friend Mona Alqahtani, who was following two candidates on Twitter who didn’t win, said she was optimistic and willing to give the prominent victors the benefit of the doubt, for now.

Other women hailing from the kingdom’s northernmost areas won, with two elected in Tabuk, one in al-Jawf and another in Hail.

“I’m really proud that we’re forming our future”.

“We want to break this barrier”, he said.

The duties of municipal councils are limited to local affairs including streets, public gardens and garbage collection.

And while the election results are a victory for all Saudi women, their win is still be subject to considerable restrictions.

He said 702,542 male and female voters forming 47.4 percent of the total registered voters participated in the elections in which 2,106 male and female candidates were declared winners.

According to election commission data, almost 1.5 million people aged 18 and above signed up for the polls. The total population of Saudi Arabia is nearly 29 million. Although there are not any quotas for female council members, a further 1,050 seats are appointed with approval by the king who might use his powers to make sure more women are represented.

Nassima al-Sadah, an activist in Qatif, said the voting process was relatively smooth, unlike the registration.

Despite the novel presence of female contenders, Marzooq said she picked a male candidate because of his ideas including more nurseries.

It was also only the third ever election in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia, which is ruled by the al-Saud family of King Salman, has no elected legislature and has faced intense scrutiny from the West over its human rights record.

Before it was announced that women would take part in this year’s polls, the country’s grand mufti, its most senior religious figure, described women’s involvement in politics as “opening the door to evil”.