Comments on: Municipal Elections Postponed

By: Saudi Sister Suffragette | reflections in the sand

Saudi Sister Suffragette | reflections in the sand — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 17:35:08 +0000

[...] next round of municipal elections were supposed to be held in 2009, but were ostensibly postponed to “study the previous election” and consider the issue of allowing women to [...]

By: Lame « Saudi Jeans

Lame « Saudi Jeans — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:46:21 +0000

[...] me repeat what I said back in October of last year, that’s a lame excuse. The unannounced reason could be simply that the government [...]

By: Rasheed

Rasheed — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:17:38 +0000

I hope the rumours that the 2009 municipal elections will be postponed turn out to be not true.

I too voted for the first time ever in the Saudi municipal elections in 2005, and I was also very disappointed with the results.

It seems that the Saudi government was just going through the motions of introducing a bit of democracy into the kingdom, but without much enthusiasm or thought. The result were councils dominated by religious conservatives, whom we must admit were better organized than the liberals.

Most Saudis pretty soon realized that powers of municipal councils to undertake change were severely limited.

What we really need is a Shoura Council with teeth, with the power to pass legislation and grill government officials, including ministers of state. If we could elect at least half of the members of such a council, just maybe then the Saudi people could have their voices heard in the decision-making process.

By: heraish

heraish — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:02:48 +0000

Pressure is off from the west so sure we wont be hearing about this for awhile.

By: Don Cox

Don Cox — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:30:22 +0000

It seems to be just the same situation as in China.

By: Mohammed

Mohammed — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:36:32 +0000

I couldn’t find any additional information regarding the Municipal councilors that resigned. Could you possibly post the link to some article regarding this issue.

Thank you

By: a.

a. — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:44:01 +0000

saudis deserve to suffer for eternity

By: Carlinhos

Carlinhos — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 22:43:40 +0000

It is the responsability of Saudis to conquer their democracy and their rights. The government is not going to just reform itself and the West won’t do much as long as there is oil flowing…

It is time for Saudi Activism!

By: Honourablerekhyet

Honourablerekhyet — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:15:13 +0000

@ Andrew:
I think you have hit the nail on the head. The religious elite are the issue. I think there are some genuine people in the Saudi government who would like reform, and I think Abdullah is amongst them, but even the King can only do so much, and there are lot of people in the mosques who would rather grab the power for themselves than help the Kingdom as a whole. It’s been true for decades and it is very disheartening because it stifles so much potential.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:43:07 +0000

While I sympathize with your goals, it should be considered that “the country’s commitment to reform and democratization” may be illusory.

A government that states that it has a legal system solely based on the rulings of the ulemaa is likely to be incompatible with reform and democratization.

Surely the members of the ulemaa (who would lose power and prestige) woudl oppose any such reform or democratization.

And so the question must be posed as to what direct and tangible benefits those in power in the ulemaa would derive from any such reform.