Saudi Women Make History in Landmark Election

Salma bint Hizab al-Oteibi was elected to the council of Madrakah, a region in Makkah, the official SPA news agency reported, citing election commission president Osama al-Bar.

Twenty Saudi female candidates won in the recent local government elections, based on results reported by The Associated Press (AP).

All though these elected female candidates represent just one person of the roughly 2100 municipal council seats but this election is a symbol of a step forward towards women empowerment in the nation.

Last weekend, for the first time, women were allowed to vote in an election.

Numerous female candidates had to rely on social media or male relatives to support their campaigns because they were not allowed to address male voters directly and can not drive in the country.

Of the 130,000 Saudi women who registered to vote in the elections, on the day it is believed that 82 percent showed up at polling stations to make their vote count.

In neighbouring Asir, also in the southwest, turnout was about 79 per cent for women and 52 per cent for men.

NPR’s Deborah Amos, who is reporting from Saudi Arabia, says the government announced the first official victor early on Sunday. Councilors have a very limited mandate pertaining mainly to overseeing budgets.

The General Elections Committee Head, Abdullateef bin Abdullah Al Shaikh, declared in a statement that out of a total of 1.4 million eligible voters, 702,542 cast their votes, or 47.4% of the population. ” This was prior to when the late King Abdullah appointed women into his council of advisers”.

In Jiddah, three generations of women from the same family voted for the first time.

Saudi women vote at a polling center during the municipal elections, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015. The oldest woman in the family was 94 year-old Naela Mohammad Nasief. Under Saudi Arabia’s new King Salman, capital punishments have increased so much that the country issued a job posting seeking qualified executioners.

She said that she knew how to deal with her male counterparts in a logical way, adding that she never gets into clashes with them. “Only in the movies.’ It was a thrilling experience”.