It’s official now. The municipal elections will be put off for two years, but instead of saying we are delaying the elections the government came out today saying they will extend the mandate of municipal councils by two years. Classic. They said they want to give time to “expand the participation of citizens in the management of local affairs” and to draft new regulations for the councils toward this goal.
Let 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 does not want to deal with the issue of women’s participation in the election as voters and candidates. Considering how negligible these councils have been since they have been elected four years ago, I don’t think most people here would be alarmed by the delay.
So much for our infant democratic experience…
Saudi Jeans 
What an euphemism, “expand the participation of citizens in the management of local affairs” hahah
Most goverments (local, community, national) still think people are sheeps… and sometimes they are right, because we let them do things and decide without cmaking any noise when their acts are obviously wrong or unfair. or illegal…whatever
Any news on what these representatives of the people have been up to?
Lamentable, of course.
What do these municipal councils truly do, in any event?
You wrote:
“Lame”
“Lamentable”
My reply:
Why bother then???
Allow me to become a silent observer and enjoy your comments!
Is regime change coming to Iran on June 12, 2009?
Do the authorities in KSA actually understand what democracy at the local level looks like?
“the government came out today saying they will extend the mandate of municipal councils by two years. ”
So their “mandate” comes from the government, not the people. That is NOT democracy. If you want it to be different, you must protest immediately. Otherwise, you accept the fact that the municipal councils are not your representatives.
Meanwhile in Kuwait 3 women are elected for the first time in the parlamient …..
Not surprised at all. The whole thing is a joke to begin with. As long as the people are silent, the issues will remain and the royal family will continue with the injustice and oppression
Dont you have any comments on Kuwait’s recent elections ?
We now have 4 lady MPs in the parliment ( Total 50 members ) and 2 lady Ministers in the government
and 9 Shia’a MPs ( out of 50 MPs )
“Is regime change coming to Iran on June 12, 2009?”
No. Khameini will still be in charge.
As long as you have oil and aren’t willing to fight for your democracy, you ain’t getting it.
No foreign government is going to criticise the KSA as long as they rely on its oil (which is going to be a long time) so the population can’t rely on foreign help. You have to fight for it yourselves.
Oil has been a blessing as well a curse for the country. Democracy has nothing to do with country’s wealth. These elections were held then under strong foriegn pressures namely from our close western friends. It was not based on peoples or leaders well. That why it didn’t and will not work. The best thing we can hope for is to have a bright leader to ” herd” us to progress and better future.