Until the last Saturday only two countries around the world did not allow women to vote: Vatican city (wherein only cardinals can do it) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. After last December 12 , there is only one. Those has been just the third democratic elections in the history of the country, and the first time that women are allowed to vote. That was one of the last desires of the previous King Abdulla, who passed out last January. A total of 979 women were registered as candidates alongside 5.938 men.
According to preliminary results published on national media, at least 17 women would have been elected to municipal councils. The winner women include Salma al-Oteibi in the Mecca region, Lama al-Suleiman and Rasha Hufaithi in Jeddah, Hanouf al-Hazimi in Al Jouf province, and Sanaa al-Hammam and Masoumah Abdelreda in the Ahsa region.
Only 130,637 women were registered to vote compared to 1,355,840 men. Some human rights organizations have reported several barriers faced by women. The centres when they were able to vote (only girl schools), were just a few and they were far from town areas (women are not allowed to drive in the country). In addition, women have faced bureaucratic problems. Despite they are now allowed to have their own IDs, many of them didn’t have it, so they are denied to vote. They also have experienced some troubles by presenting their proofs of residence (which are mandatory to vote). Husbands tend to behold the property on his own and pay the bills. In that cases women need to present evidences of the relationship between them. That documents are usually in hands of husbands as well. As a result women accounted for fewer than 10% of registered voters.
This is an important and historic step to the nation, but it should not be forgotten that Saudi Arabia still remains as one of the most undemocratic countries around the world. There is not freedom of expression; judges are not independent; although penal code bans torture, this practice together with cases of beheading, stoning, amputations or floggings as legal punishments or penalties have been reported; political parties and opposition are forbidden; certain collectives, (such as women, LGTB, inmigrants, christians or Shia Muslims) are highly discriminated. There is still a lot to be done.
Photo by: Tribes of the World.