The turnout of women in Saudi Arabia’s first election open to female voters and candidates was almost 80 percent in places, according to data analysed on Sunday by AFP.
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Hanouf bint Mufrih bin Ayid al-Hazmi won in the northwestern region of Jawf, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said, adding that neighbouring Tabuk elected two women.
Saudi Arabians have voted 17 women into public office in municipal elections.
Repressive clerics Until Saturday’s election, Saudi Arabia was the last country to allow only men to vote.
978 women registered as candidates alongside 5,938 men. “Change is a big word”, Salma Al Rashed, the first woman to register to vote in her district tells the BBC.
More than 900 women were among the 6,440 candidates standing for seats on 284 councils.
“But in an ultraconservative country where women are deprived of many basic rights-such as the ability to drive or to travel overseas without the permission of a male relative-many female voters see their inclusion in the election process as a turning point”. Saturday’s elections were the third time citizens have cast municipal ballots. “I think it’s great that several women won in different regions of Saudi Arabia”, said writer Maha Akeel.
Her friend Mona Alqahtani, who was following two candidates on Twitter who didn’t win, said she was optimistic and willing to give the prominent victors the benefit of the doubt, for now.
Lama Al-Sulaiman (also the first Saudi woman to be elected in the Jeddah chamber of commerce and industry elections) and Rasha Hifzi are to be among the 20 members of the Jeddah municipal council. The councils are responsible only for local affairs and have virtually no political power, but the result is a massive step forward in a country where women still require a male guardian to transact official business.
This, being the first time women were both allowed to run and vote in Saudi Arabia’s municipal elections, is a historic decision which, according to Al Arabiya local news, recorded that 24% of voters were women. As a result, they accounted for less than 10 percent of registered voters. Another said she would never let go of the right finally given to them, even with some conservative rules still imposed upon them.
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Women snap photos as they arrive at their polling station in Jiddah to vote in municipal elections. Women posed for pictures behind the ballot box and yelled “Mabrook”, Arabic for congratulations, to one another as they exited. The oldest woman in the family was 94 year-old Naela Mohammad Nasief. “It was a thrilling experience”. “They will be able to solve problems pertaining to women and suggest amendments to laws that are unfavorable for women”.
