RIYADH, 22 November 2004 — There will be no foreign observers in Saudi Arabia’s coming municipal elections, according to Prince Abdul Aziz ibn Muhammad Al-Muqrin, the mayor of Riyadh and head of the local committee supervising the elections in the Riyadh region.
This is contrary to what has been published in the Western media. Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Al-Muqrin ruled out women’s participation, either as voters or candidates in the first elections.
He said that the matter of women’s participation would be studied in the next elections four years from now.
The mayor urged all male Saudi citizens to vote and have their voices heard, saying that it was unacceptable for anyone to assign another citizen to vote for him unless the person is handicapped. Handicapped citizens are the only individuals permitted to have someone else vote on their behalf. The mayor mentioned the difficulties in carrying out the first municipality elections, saying that it is a new experience for the Kingdom and that there are no precedents officials could rely on in preparing the centers or informing the public.
He said the decision to choose elementary, intermediate and secondary schools as ballot centers was so that the centers would be in as many areas as possible. He added that only the best prepared schools were chosen as ballot centers. He said that all ballot centers in the capital and in the Riyadh region had opened their doors from yesterday between Maghrib and Isha prayers in order to answer any questions from citizens regarding election procedures and processes. There are 140 ballot centers in the Riyadh region with 73 in the city itself and the remainder outside.
The mayor explained that Saudi citizens are working in the ballot centers and that if a citizen’s papers were in order, the registration process would not take more than 10 minutes.
According to the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, the Municipal council of Riyadh will have 14 members with seven of them elected and seven appointed. The period of service will be four years, beginning from the day the member takes office.
In order to answer questions and inquiries about the election, there is a toll free number — 940 — available to the public.
Yesterday the Riyadh mayor’s office began distributing brochures to citizens all over the city; the brochures provided information on the elections and answers to commonly asked questions.
Included among the information are the following conditions to be fulfilled by a Saudi wishing to nominate himself as a candidate for office:
• That he is a Saudi by blood or birth, or has held Saudi citizenship for not less than 10 years,
• That he is over the age of 25 years ,
• That he is a permanent resident within the boundaries of the municipality,
• That he has not been convicted of any illegal act or felony and that if he has been in jail, it must have been more than 5 years ago,
• That he has not been fired from public service for improper behavior unless it was at least five years ago,
• That he is familiar with the province and its people and is literate,
• That he has never filed for bankruptcy.
