JEDDAH, 15 October 2003 — A senior member of the Shoura Council has described the planned partial municipal elections as “a practical step for political and administrative reform” and said he expected the council and other agencies to follow suit.
Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al-Quwaihes, the chairman of the Shoura’s infrastructure and services committee, told Al-Watan newspaper “similar decisions” for the Shoura and other bodies would be in line with the government’s ongoing reform program.
However, he said he did not expect women to be part of municipal councils. “I believe that there will be other steps such as the formation of women’s committees for every municipal council,” he added.
Another Shoura member, Dr. Mohsen Muhammad Al-Tameem, who chairs the social affairs committee, said he favored the participation of women in elections but said the matter required further study to ensure their participation was positive. It was up to the government to decide whether women would be allowed to contest municipal council elections. “We have not discussed this matter in the Shoura,” he added.
But he said women must be allowed to express their opinion on the country’s affairs. “Nobody can ignore the views of women,” he added.
Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs Prince Miteb said yesterday that Monday’s Cabinet decision to let half the members of municipal councils be elected by popular vote was a significant development in the Kingdom’s municipal activities.
He said the restructuring of the municipality sector would contribute to improving municipality services through better management and better utilization of manpower and resources.
“The remarkable development achieved by the Kingdom as well as the growing need for services have increased the responsibilities of municipalities,” the prince said. “These decisions will serve as a big boost to the ministry,” he added.
In Washington, the United States praised the decision to hold partial municipal elections. The State Department said Washington would back any attempt to open the Saudi political arena to the widest percentage of its population.
“We welcome (Monday’s) decision by the government of Saudi Arabia to hold municipal elections within one year,” spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.
“We support any initiative that leads to greater participation of all elements of Saudi society in political life,” he said.
The international media is portraying the announcement of elections as the first example of political reform and democracy in Saudi Arabia.
Few realize that in modern Saudi Arabia, examples of democracy, in particular elections, have existed in one form or another for decades.
One institution known for dabbling in elections is the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Elections there took on a new dimension 15 years ago, when a new breed of businessmen, mostly second generation, wanted better representation, and a sense of competition developed which led to elections every four years becoming a prominent feature.
According to JCCI Vice Chairman Ghassan Al-Sulaiman, elections have been both credible and successful for two reasons. “The first is representation, where the business community feels that the JCCI represents its interests effectively.
“The second is the credibility of Jeddah’s business community, internationally or otherwise.”
Are elections at the JCCI an example that the people of Saudi Arabia are eager to participate in more democratic institutions?
“Elections at the chamber of commerce have existed for over 50 years. It shows that the business community is ready to participate and work side by side with the government in an effort to continue improving the business climate,” he said.
The younger generation of Saudis, who have been exposed to the electoral process in student elections over the last three years, seem to have less confidence in the concept of democracy, mainly due to a lack of experience and understanding of the importance of self-government.
According to Abdullah Gazzaz, a student at, Jeddah’s College of Business Administration, 450 out of a total student body of 490 voted in the student union elections to select a student body president.
The winner of the election, Sultan Al-Shahrani, told Arab News: “This was a new process for the school, much like this is going to be a new process for Saudi Arabia. What helped me win in the election is the fact that I had been at CBA for two years and had a good reputation. Other candidates were unknown. I went from person to person in a campaign to accumulate people’s trust and votes. The problem with the other candidates was that not many people knew them and only got votes from their friends.”
Tariq Al-Amoudi, a student and coordinator at the school, said: “The whole idea of holding elections was well thought out and organized. But each candidate was supposed to stand up before the entire student body in the auditorium and explain what he planned to do if elected. The trouble is it never happened that way because none of the students that were supposed to vote showed up. So we passed out ballots to the students and they voted with very little information about the other candidates.”
Al-Shahrani received 220 out of 450 votes, and the remaining 230 votes were spread out among the other candidates.
Most students said that they thought the voting process was “a joke”, and not to be taken seriously. They felt that candidates were being picked for their popularity among their friends, rather than for their merits.
“CBA’s elections have been thought of as a joke because of the lack of organization. If the Saudi elections are not very carefully handled, everyone is going to think those are a joke as well,” one student said.
When told of the municipal elections planned within a year, many expressed a great deal of interest and curiosity, and some skepticism.
“It is good and definitely very interesting,” another student said. “We would like to know a lot about the candidates that run when it is time for them to begin their campaigns.”
Another student said: “If it’s done right and ‘wasta’ and favoritism are kept out of the process, that’ll be the beginning of a new era in Saudi politics.”
