An Historical First For The Saudi Kingdom: Women Participate As Voters And Candidates In Municipal Elections | MEMRI

Introduction On December 12, 2015, Saudi Arabia will, for the third time, hold municipal elections; for the first time, women will participate in the elections as both voters and candidates, within the confines of shari’a law, in accordance with a decision by the previous king, ‘Abdallah bin ‘Abd Al-Aziz.[1] Likewise, the decision was made for these elections to lower the voting age from 21 to 18, increase the number of elected council members from half to two-thirds of the total number of seats;[2] and expand the municipal councils’ powers.[3] According to reports by the elections committee, 130,637 women are now registered to vote, as opposed to 1,355,840 male voters; they thereby constitute 8.7% of the registered voters. Additionally, 979 women have filed their candidacies, as opposed to 5,938 male candidates; the women therefore constitute 14.1% of the 6,917candidates.
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