JEDDAH, 21 June 2006 — For the fourth time a judge here postponed yesterday a hearing in a complaint filed by a group of candidates who lost in municipal elections last year. The fifth scheduled hearing is now slated for Sept. 12.
A group of more than 100 hopefuls in Saudi Arabia’s first municipal council elections last year filed a complaint in Jeddah’s court, accusing the media and religious scholars of unfairly endorsing a so-called “Golden List” of candidates.
The plaintiffs are hoping to annul the Ministry of Rural and Municipal Affairs’ authorization of the members of Jeddah’s Municipal Council until a ruling in their case is finalized. The 12-member council began its work on Dec. 27 when it elected its president. The plaintiffs argue that since their case is still pending, the current council’s legality is in question.
The latest postponement was made after the plaintiffs complained that the ministry’s defense statement to the judge was incomplete because the plaintiffs were unable to obtain copies of the ministry’s response to their argument.
“Legally they should submit all the official documents, but they did not,” said Ehab Al-Solaimani, a spokesman for the defeated candidates. “How can we reply to their claims if we could not see them?”
Previous postponements have been made because the ministry failed to send a representative to the scheduled court date. The first hearing was scheduled on Sept. 19 and was postponed after the ministry’s legal representatives failed to attend. The following date on Nov. 15 was also postponed for the same reason. The ministry argued unsuccessfully at the time that the Court of Grievance was not qualified to look into this case. The hearing was re-scheduled for Feb. 28, over two months after the council was inaugurated. In the February hearing, the ministry sent legal representation but argued for more time to prepare documents. The hearing was then scheduled for April 23, and subsequently rescheduled by the judge to yesterday.
Al-Solaimani said that although their case might look like it has reached a dead end, they are not going to withdraw.
“We did not hesitate at the beginning, and we are certainly not quitting at this point,” he said.
The Kingdom’s first municipal elections took place last year to elect half of the membership. Only men were eligible to run and vote in these elections. The government has said they would open the playing field in the future so that women can vote and run.
In Jeddah, the elected members of the council won after religious leaders endorsed them. The plaintiffs argue that the endorsements and excessive positive media attention to the “Golden List” unfairly facilitated their electoral wins. The winners are perceived to be more conservative than the appointed members, possibly reflecting the views of the men who voted for them after they received endorsements by religious scholars that were covered heavily by the local media.
Cities and towns have six, eight or 12-member councils depending on their size. The ministry appoints the other half of these councils Kingdomwide.
