Municipal elections in Saudi Arabia in November

The Saudi news agency said that the elections to choose half members of the municipal council in the Kingdom will be in November and will continue until the beginning of 2005.

The agency said that a delegation representing experts from the UN arrived at the request of the Kingdom to be acquainted with the measures completed by the village and municipality affairs ministry concerning these elections. These include registering the voters and the candidates, the technical committees and other related measures.

The agency added that the UN experts were shown the schedule prepared by the elections committee on the ground of dividing the areas to three. The first include al-Eiyadh area, the second is Mecca and al-Madina, al-Qasim, al-Jouf, the northern borders, Tabouk and Hael while the third phase includes the eastern areas and Aseer, al-Baha, Jazan and Najran districts.

In October 2003, the Saudi leadership promised to organize partial municial elections within one year, following pressures from the US and reformers in the Kingdom aiming at expanding political participation and the freedom of expression.