Saudi voters elect 20 women candidates for the 1st time

Salma bint Hizab al-Oteibi became the first women candidate who won a seat Mecca’s municipal council.

Al-Bar also confirmed yesterday that Lama al- Suleiman won in the western city of Jiddah, Saudi Arabia’s second largest city.

The development is viewed as historic for Saudi Arabia where women have fewer rights than men, being forbidden to drive cars and making major life decisions without consent from male relatives, among other restrictions.

Saudi media said turnout was high, with 1.35 million men and 130,000 women registered to vote.

That figure compared with about 50 percent of registered male voters in the regions examined.

Another Arab News columnist, retired Saudi Navy commodore Abdulateef al-Mulhim, wrote that the election was proof of the “stability” of the kingdom amid regional upheavals. The two previous rounds of voting for the councils, in 2005 and 2011, were open to men only.

The election was the first where women were allowed to vote and stand as candidates, and is being viewed as a landmark in the conservative kingdom.

The 343 Saudi constituencies distributed all over the country’s districts permit citizens above 18 years of age to vote.

Women candidates won in provinces such as Makkah, Jeddah, Riyadh Qatif, Qasim, Hail, Al Jouf, Al Ahsa and Jazan, local media reported ahead of a formal announcement.

Elections of any kind are rare in the Saudi kingdom – Saturday was only the third time in history that Saudis had gone to the polls.

“I have goosebumps”, said Ghada Ghazzawi, a businesswoman, as she entered a polling station in an upscale Jeddah neighborhood on Saturday.

Al-Ahmed pointed out the very low turnout of women and said it was important to note that the municipal councils to which the candidates have been elected were “powerless”.

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

But it was viewed as a step toward granting equal rights in the country, according to Hatoon al-Fassi, a coordinator for the Saudi Baladi Initiative, which worked to raise awareness about the elections.

The elections are for almost 300 local councils.

Female candidates expressed pride in standing, even if they didn’t think they would win, while women voters said they were happy at finally being able to do something they had only seen on television or in movies. “It was a thrilling experience”.