RELIGION AND POLITICAL IDEOLOGY

87 Percent Saudis Back Women’s Participation in Elections

[Note: Even if women were enfranchised, Saudi Arabia would be far from a free nation. Still, there's something to be said for a country where the "educated class" actually supports democracy.]

JEDDAH,
          A survey conducted by an independent agency in Jeddah showed 87 percent Saudis backing women’s participation in elections. It also reflected the greater role of media in educating the public on the polls.

          "Eighty-seven percent of 240 Saudis who took part in the survey called for women’s participation in the next round of elections," said Dr. Muhammad Fashetan, chairman of the SAS Center for Opinion Survey and Consultancy in Jeddah. He said the survey’s participants included 50 teachers, 20 businessmen, six university students, 40 government employees, 20 retired military officers, 20 media persons and 30 retired civilian officials.

          Some women were actually happy to hear the survey report, no matter how small the number polled was. For them it indicated that there is a change in the way people perceive the matter and some saw it as a result of the media’s influence. But a considerable number of women also expressed their doubts on the credibility of the poll.

          Nawal Hamed, a physician, said that the number mentioned in the survey, carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, is not representative of the Saudi population. "I have my doubts on the significance of this number and I think the people polled belong to a certain educated class, that is why they seem supportive of women voting."

          Rasha Muhamad, a Girls’ Education Department employee, echoed the same skeptical sentiments saying, "I do not think the general Saudi public shares this feeling." Housewife Lama Muhamad said that voting was the basic right for both men and women, on the condition that they can offer something good. "But this poll does not tell me that the resistance to women’s participation has changed." Saudi Arabia’s landmark nationwide municipal elections began on Feb. 10 when Saudi men in the Riyadh region cast their votes. Women, who make up more than 50 percent of the population were excluded from the vote. In the second phase, elections were held in the eastern and southern regions on March 3. The third and final phase, covering Makkah, Madinah, Tabuk, Hail and Al-Jouf regions as well as Qasim and the Northern Border Province will be held on April 21. The municipal election bylaws do not exclude women from voting. As a result, a number of ambitious women had announced their intention to run in the historic polls, speaking openly of their manifestos.

          Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal as well as the chief election officer Prince Mansour ibn Miteb have expressed their hope that women would be able to take part in the next round of municipal elections to be held in 2009. "Municipal elections are a new experience in the Kingdom and the short time given to the Election Commission made it impossible to allow women’s participation this time," Prince Mansour told reporters.

          The main reasons for barring women from the election were administrative, an election official said, adding that there were not enough women electoral staff to run voter registration centers, while only a fraction of women had photo identity cards.

          But many women rights activists were not happy with the explanation and urged the government to appoint women to fill the remaining seats as elections are conducted to pick half the members of the country’s 178 municipal councils. In a letter to Prince Mansour, they demanded that the other half of the councils’ seats be allocated to women, Hatoon Al-Fassi said in early January. "We are demanding the maximum (possible) and we believe it is our right," said Fassi, a history lecturer at King Saud University.