JEDDAH, 21 October 2004 — Prince Mansour ibn Miteb, chairman of the general election committee, does not rule out the possibility of appointing women to municipal councils, saying it will be decided by the Municipal and Rural Affairs Ministry.
“The appointment of women, instead of election, to the municipal councils is a matter to be decided by the ministry,” Al-Yaum Arabic daily quoted the prince as saying.
Answering questions of citizens who attended a social gathering at the residence of Sheikh Othman Al-Saleh in Riyadh on Monday, the chief election officer also said Saudis living abroad would not be allowed to take part in elections. “The bylaw gives the right to vote only to those who are inside the Kingdom,” he said.
Prince Mansour said it was premature to hold a referendum on women’s participation in elections.
Interior Minister Prince Naif earlier this month ruled out the participation of women in the upcoming ballot, despite the fact that the text of the regulatory framework for the elections did not explicitly exclude them.
“The rules did not bar women ... but we concluded it would be difficult to apply monitoring and regulatory criteria regulating women’s participation in the next round,” Prince Mansour said.
Asked if women would be allowed to take part in future elections, he said officials in charge of those polls would examine the issue. Election officials in Riyadh have claimed that the lack of qualified women to run women’s-only registration centers and polling stations, plus the fact that only a small percentage of Saudi women have photo-identity cards needed for voting, were the main obstacles preventing women from participating in the elections.
Prince Mansour said independent observers would be invited to monitor the elections to ensure transparency.
— Additional input byAbdullah Al-Busaily
