Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz announced on Sunday he was giving women the right to vote and run in municipal elections, the only public polls in the ultra-conservative Gulf kingdom. He also announced that women would have the right to join the all-appointed Shura (consultative) Council, in an address opening a new term of the council.
“Starting with the next term, women will have the right to run in municipal elections and to choose candidates, according to Islamic principles,” he said. This means that women will be able to take part in the elections that will be held in four years, as the next vote is due to take place on Thursday and nominations for those are already in. “We have decided that women will participate in the Shura Council as members starting the next term,” the king also said in an unexpected move to enfranchise women in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
“The Muslim woman… must not be marginalised in opinion or advice,” said King Abdullah. More than 5,000 men will compete in Thursday’s municipal elections, only the second in Saudi Arabia’s history, to fill half the seats in the kingdom’s 285 municipal councils. The other half are appointed by the government. The first elections were held in 2005, but the government extended the existing councils’ term for two years.
More than 60 intellectuals and activists called in May for a boycott of the ballot because municipal councils lack the authority to effectively carry out their role and half of their members are appointed, as well as because they exclude women.
saudi king give the permission toto women for casting the vote its better for saudi administration and better to contol the extremeism i highly appericite him for this braveful step
Comments are closed.