Low turnout at Saudi municipal polls, monitors say

Sep 29, 2011

Riyadh - Saudis went to the polls Thursday to elect municipal councils amid a low turnout, according to local monitors.

'The voter turnout has so far been weak because Thursday is an official holiday in the kingdom,' said one monitor. Kateb al-Shamri, another Saudi monitor, however, expected the turnout to increase later in the day.

'It takes around five minutes to cast one's ballot because organization inside polling stations are good,' he said. 'There will be a strong turnout in the afternoon.'

Polling booths opened across the country at 0800 local time (0500 GMT) and were due to close at 1700.

Thursday's elections, the only ones in the oil-rich kingdom, are the last to be held without women voters.

Municipal elections this year are only the second in the conservative kingdom's history. The first were held in 2005.

Around 5,000 candidates are running for 1,056 seats at 285 councils across the kingdom, the spokesman for the electoral commission, Jadeeh bin Nahar, said on Wednesday. They are being monitored by some 500 Saudi lawyers and activists.

On Sunday, Saudi King Abdullah decided to allow women to run for the next municipal elections and be appointed as members of parliament.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/news/article_1665822.php/Low-turnout-at-Saudi-municipal-polls-monitors-say.