It is quite a historic time for Saudi Arabia, as 18 women have won seats in the country’s municipal polls, the country’s first-ever elections open to female voters and candidates.
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Saudi Arabia’s official news agency Saudi Press Agency had initially announced the victory of four women in civic polls on Sunday. “I thank God I am living it”, Saudi academic and women’s rights campaigner, Hatoon al-Fassi, told BBC reporters in an interview after she had cast her vote.
While the ban on driving for women is still considered an issue, Najd al-Hababi, sibling of one of the female candidates, said it isn’t the main concern at the moment.
Saudi Arabia has some of the world’s tightest restrictions on women, who must cover themselves in black from head to toe when they appear in public.
Female candidates were forbidden to talk to male voters face-to-face, so a group of popular stand-up comedians campaigned for her and performed in person at all-male rallies.
In 2011, the late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who died in January, promised that women could take part in the next municipal vote. According to BBC reports, around 1,30,000 women were registered for voting while the male vote count was 1.35 million. Her daughter, Sahar Hassan Nasief, said the experience marked “the beginning” of greater rights for women in Saudi Arabia, who are not allowed to drive and are governed by laws that give men the ultimate say over aspects of their lives like marriage, travel and higher education. “And they might. It’s just not important to me”, she says.
The 2,106 council seats up for election last Saturday account for two-thirds of total seats, with the rest appointed.
Men have voted in the local elections since 2005 but this was the first time women could cast ballots and stand as candidates.
The free service to take women to vote is a joint effort between U.S.-based tech company Uber and Al-Nahda Philanthropic Society for Women, a Saudi women’s empowerment group. Uber operates in more than 300 cities in about 67 countries. Female candidates were not allowed to directly campaign to men.
Ruled by the Al-Saud family of King Salman, Saudi Arabia has no elected legislature and faces intense Western scrutiny of its rights record.
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