Posted on 01/05/2005 7:42:03 AM PST by veronica
JEDDAH, 4 January 2005 — Former Saudi female candidates for the upcoming municipal elections had varied responses after a senior election official yesterday said that women would be allowed to vote in 2009.
Prince Mansour ibn Miteb, chairman of the General Committee for Municipal Elections, explained that the only reason women were not allowed to vote in this round was because municipal elections are a new experience and the short time given to prepare for them made it impossible to allow women’s participation this time.
Faten Bunduggi, the director of women’s empowerment and research at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry said: “It is a very good news if the statement is true; it shows that the government is empowering women to take part in political decision making in the country.
In the meantime, we hope that the government would consider allocating female representatives, as fifty percent of the municipal seats will be appointed.” Bunduggi added that she hoped women would be appointed at least from the major cities like Riyadh and Jeddah.
One of the main organizers of the female candidates, Hatoon Al-Fassi, assistant professor of history at King Saud University in Riyadh, said: “We are so disappointed that the push for women to vote will take another four years. We don’t think that the committee took the right decision. We believe that they don’t have the legal right to take that decision.”
Another candidate from the Eastern Province, Najat Al-Shafie, was more optimistic.
“Women still have a good chance to be appointed and we are optimistic about still having a chance to vote. Meanwhile, there should be a committee to pinpoint and solve the problems and the difficulties that women may face in the voting process, as well as problems that elected women may encounter.”
She added that there should be a strategic plan that would facilitate women’s participation in the future.
“Women are very worried and feel excluded due to this elimination, because females are half of the society,” she said.
She explained that the weak response to the recent voter registration drive in Riyadh was due to the fact that women were not being allowed to participate.
“Women are the mothers and the ones responsible for bringing up our children. Therefore, it is important that they be part of the political process to be able to teach their children the importance of political participation.”
The three-stage municipal elections are to begin on Feb. 10 in Riyadh, with other regions voting in March and April. Voters will choose half of the 178 municipal council members in 13 regions, while the government will appoint the other half.
I'll be stunned if it really happens.
What's the point of being able to vote if you can't drive yourself to the polling place? You are still a slave, albeit one with the veneer of "the right to vote."
Tell that to my great-grandmother who passed away a few years ago in her 90's. She first voted in 1925 and never missed a vote. However, she never got her driver's license and always had someone in the family drive her.
Who was it who said, "a right delayed is a right denied?"
Huh?!
Well, now the next step is to get the right to drive before 2009...
But she had THE RIGHT to drive herself, if she chose to. That's freedom.
They are apparently too stupid now to vote.
Okay, now I personally don't have any problems with a woman driving. However, denying that is nowhere near what you implied of denying freedom. As my father always told me about the age of 16, "Driving is not a right, it is a privilege."
How enlightened of you. ;)
My father always told me about the age of 16, "Driving is not a right, it is a privilege."
Actually it's a right in the US, until and unless you do something that causes you to lose that right. "Driving is not a right, it is a privilege" is hyperbole that every parent tells his kid to warn him or her against being stupid behind the wheel.
"women would be allowed to vote in 2009. "
In a related story, hell is predicted to freeze over and monkeys will be flying out of Blzbba's ass in 2009.
Boy, all I can say for the sake of the men in Saudi, is that I hope the women over there are more forgiving than I would be...
Wonder what the Saudi traffic accident rate vs. the US traffic accident rate is? LOL ; )
Horrible. I've driven in several countries, and nothing comes close to being as scary as driving in Saudi Arabia -- they're totally psycho behind the wheel. Someone should remind them that dying in a car accident doesn't get them martyrdom.
I can just see the ballot:
Choice #1 - Refer to my husband's ballot and I choose the same.
Choice #2 - Torture me and kill my family.
Just like the Iraqi ballot under Saddam when he won 100% of the vote. What a popular guy.
And they probably don't drive because it's difficult to get up on a camel while wearing a burka.
What amazes me is how the feminists cry that Christianity puts women in a subservient role.
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