“The move will enable Saudi women to have a say in the process of decision making”.
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For the first time in the kingdom’s history, women will be able to vote, register as candidates and run for office in the municipal elections to be held on December 12. Voter registration turnout was initially low in Medina and Mecca, where registration for the third municipal elections in December opened earlier than in the rest of the country, but officials said they expected it to pick up.
Recommended: How much do you know about Saudi Arabia? The official announcement was made by King Abdullah in 2011 and now it will eventually be put to effect.
According to a report in the Saudi Gazette, the first two women to receive their voter cards were Jamal Al-Saadi and Safinaz Abu Al-Shamat.
Officially, elections were scheduled to take place in every four years but in February 2009 the elections were postponed “for evaluation” indefinitely in order to consider the women suffrage.
This is a big deal considering that until now, women in Saudi Arabia have been marginalised in society, have been under-represented in government and still can not drive a vehicle.
Ms Shamat told the newspaper she had been determined to be “the first woman” to register, describing it as a national duty to participate in elections.
In an effort to bring about a change, King Abdullah has appointed women to the Saudi’s 150-member advisory body and allowed female athletes to compete at the London Olympics, their conservative outfits in stark contrast to their competitors’.
She told The Gazette that the ministry had failed to make women aware of what was happening, adding: “They have failed dearly in reaching out to the community and marketing the elections to them”.
Women are still only 16% of the Saudi workforce and 60% of the unemployed – figures that are slowly improving.
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“I didn’t expect this to happen so soon”, Linjawi, who is also a first-time voter, said. This came after the year witnessed less women participation in the polls. “It is the women who are actually leading the pack in terms of promoting reforms in the country… they are the most critical of the religious establishment and of their disenfranchisement”.
