Saudi Women Run, Vote for First Time in Nation’s History

Saudi Arabia has started its first election where female voters and candidates are allowed to partake.

As she spoke, a military transport plane flew low overhead from the nearby airbase, a reminder of the momentous policies from war in Yemen to management of plunging oil prices on which Saudi citizens – men and women – still have no formal say. Around 130,000 women registered to vote in the country’s municipal elections, and 978 women are running as municipal candidates, Mashablereports.

Women also said voter registration was hindered by bureaucratic obstacles, a lack of awareness of the process and its significance, and the fact that women could not drive themselves to sign up. One of the aspiring applicants Amal Badreldin al-Sawari, a pediatrician in central Riyadh, openly revealed that “I’m not running to win…”

‘I think there are limitations in being able to meet with the public so I made a decision to go to malls to meet with the community and this is what prompted me to focus on social media in my electoral campaign, where everyone can communicate so I can get the largest number of voters, ‘ she told France 24. Also, female candidates were not allowed to directly address male voters, having to either make presentations from behind partitions, relying on projectors and microphones, or via male supporters and relatives.

Bokhary was one of 979 women candidates vying for a seat on the country’s municipal councils, the only government body in which Saudi citizens can elect their representatives.

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

Of 142 countries ranked by the World Economic Forum’s gender equality index Saudi Arabia came 130th: among those countries below the Kingdom were Oman, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Morocco and Iran. 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. Whitson said she hoped the elections would “create momentum for further women’s rights reforms”.

But winning is not the sole goal of some female candidates.

“Her role is not in such places”.

The Saudi academic and women’s rights campaigner had to be driven there.

Women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to drive or open a bank account and they are required to be covered head-to-toe in public.

“They’re not a challenge to the system”, Ottaway said of women activists. The General Election Commission estimated there are at least 5 million eligible voters out of a population of 20 million, but the figure could be much higher. Under such laws, women can not obtain a passport, work in government, travel overseas or enter university without the permission of a male guardian, usually the father or husband.

Ruled by the al-Saud family of King Salman, Saudi Arabia has no elected legislature and faces intense Western scrutiny of its rights record. Finally, in 2011, they agreed women would be allowed to vote in 2015.

The kingdom’s first municipal ballot was in 2005, for men only.

Ballot opened at 8:00 AM and will close at 5:00 PM on Saturday.