Women will vote in next Saudi election

5/4/2005

A senior Saudi official said on Tuesday that women might vote in Saudi Arabia’s next municipal council elections scheduled for 2009.

According to Adel Al Jubeir, a senior foreign policy adviser to Saudi ruler Crown Prince Abdullah, there is consensus in the conservative kingdom that women, now barred from participating in the country’s elections, should have the right to vote.

Asked if he thinks there was any real prospect of women casting ballots in the municipal elections in 2009, Al Jubeir told Reuters news agency: “Personally, yes.”

“The head of the electoral commission said that he would recommend that women vote next time around. I think that recommendation will carry a lot of weight,” he said.

“I think the consensus in Saudi Arabia is that women ought to vote in the next elections,” he added.

Last month, Saudi Arabia held a third and final round of voting for municipal.
But women were barred from voting or standing in the elections.