Women in Saudi Arabia vote for first time

The monarchy only held two elections in the last 40 years and is the last country to only deny suffrage to women.

Iman Al-Masharawi, physician: “As I am seeing, there is not a lot of females around”.

Saudi Arabian women will vote for the first time, but in a country where they must seek male permission to work, study, travel, marry or even access healthcare, scepticism remains over the significance of the apparent reform.

Uber is offering free rides for women to the polls on Saturday, since Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world which doesn’t allow women to drive.

Campaigning has been challenging for the candidates, as they navigate strict gender segregation laws, which has seen men and women cast their votes at separate polling stations. Many female activists have been disqualified from running without any explanation and out of 1,263 polling stations, just 424 have been reserved for women. Most of the women asked the media not to take their photograph before they were whisked away. “As long as she has her own place and there is no mixing with men, what prevents her from voting? We support anything that does not violate Shariah”, he said.

Female candidates will also contend with a deep societal belief among many Saudi voters that women do not belong in public life.

Municipal elections are the only kind that Saudi Arabia allows.

Female voters said registration was hindered by factors including bureaucratic obstacles and a lack of transport.

In the lead up to the election, women were prohibited from campaigning in public, leaving many of them to campaign over the Internet where both men and women could see it.

“To tell you the truth, I’m not running to win”, Amal Badreldin al-Sawari, a 60-year-old paediatriciation in central Riyadh told the AFP news agency. “I am not really anxious about the number, or to have any women winning”, she told us.

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

Though the seats they would be contesting for are restricted to softer domains streets, public gardens and rubbish collection, the women candidates feel they have already won.

“Now women have a voice”, said Awatef Marzooq after casting her ballot at a school in the capital. Despite the milestone, the 130,000 women registered to cast their ballot falls far short of the 1.3 million men able to vote.

“I have goosebumps”, said Ghada Ghazzawi, a businesswoman, as she entered a polling station in the coastal city of Jeddah.

Polls opened at 8:00 am (0500 GMT) and closed at 5:00 pm.