JEDDAH, 14 March 2004 — Saudi Arabia’s first elections will take place in October and should lead to general elections, Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News, reported yesterday, quoting senior members of the Shoura Council.

“Elections to the municipal councils will take place next October,” Dr. Saleh Al-Malik said. “There is no question of going back on the elections,” added Saleh Al-Omeir, who is leading a Shoura delegation visiting London.

“The experience of the Shoura and the municipal elections will be a positive factor to establish the idea of elections so that they will become general and not just municipal,” the London-based Arabic daily quoted Al-Omeir as saying.

Al-Omeir denied suggestions that Saudis are allergic to democracy and said consultation in public matters was a divine order.

“There are more similarities between Shoura and democracy than differences,” Malik added. Malik also told the Saudi Press Agency that the participation of women in the Shoura Council was under study and that a decision on whether women would be able to vote in the municipal elections would “not take a long time.”

Saudi Arabia announced last October that the first elections in the Kingdom would take place within a year in order to elect half the members of 14 municipal councils. Semi-official reports have since said elections would be held within three years to fill one-third of the Shoura’s 120 seats and that half the members of regional councils would be elected within two years.

Saudi reformers as well as participants in the two national dialogue sessions held in Riyadh and Makkah have also asked the government to hold elections to the Shoura.

The decision to hold elections was taken at the weekly Cabinet meeting, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd, on the recommendation of Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard.

“The Council of Ministers decided to expand the participation of citizens in the administration of local affairs through electing half the members of municipal councils,” SPA reported.

“The concerned authorities have been told to complete the (election) procedures within a period not exceeding a year,” the agency said quoting the Cabinet statement.

The 14 municipalities in which council elections will be held are: Makkah, Madinah, Riyadh, Jeddah, the Eastern Province, Asir, Qasim, Jizan, Al-Jouf, Tabuk, Hail, the Northern Border Province, Baha and Najran.

SPA said the decision to hold municipal elections was in keeping with the policy advocated by King Fahd and Prince Abdullah to “press ahead on the path of political and administrative reform.”

Currently, the only elections in the Kingdom are those held to choose some members of the governing boards of chambers of commerce and industry.