Riyadh: administrative reasons behind banning woman from taking part in the elections
Saudi Arabia, Politics, 10/12/2004

One official in the Saudi municipal elections said yesterday that there are administrative reasons behind a likely decision on banning women from taking part in the elections which were declared by the Saudi minister of the interior Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz in Kuwait on Sunday.

The official said that the main reason for preventing women from taking part in the municipal elections is embodied in the fact that the number of women to supervise the voting and selections centers dedicated only to women in the kingdom, is not enough. The official added that very few women in the Kingdom have an ID with unveiled face, enabling them to take part in the elections.

Three Saudi women announced their determination to nominate themselves for the municipal elections despite the doubts on the participation of women. The text which organizes the elections does not rule out women's participation as it used the expression of "citizen" in a way it does not define the gender of the voter. A graduate of the business administration faculty Nour Ahmad ( 22 year old) said "I am not happy.. why are men and woman not equal in this issue." But her friend student Sara Muhammad ( 19 year old) expressed her support for the decision. She said " the woman does not know how to vote using her logic as the man does. She is emotional."

The woman activist in defending human rights, Khatoun al-Fasi, called for explanations to statements made by the Saudi minister of the interior Prince Nayef noting that "this will give us a margin for discussion and enough time to reach solutions for impediments."

Previous Stories:
  Prince Nayef: Women will not take part in the elections   (10/11/2004)
  Riyadh: detaining a sheikh in al-Ihsaa over provoking sectarianism   (10/8/2004)
  Saudi reformer detained, Washington demands open trials   (10/7/2004)

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