Saudi Arabia municipal elections

Elections in 178 municipalities in Saudi Arabia are scheduled to be held from 10 February to 21 April 2005.

The first elections to be held in Saudi Arabia since the 1960s, the 2005 elections will be held in three stages: the first on 10 February around the capital city of Riyadh, the second in the east and southwest on 3 March, and the third, in the north, on 21 April.

The elections are part of the Saudi government's response to progressive movements calling for political reform.

Male citizens over the age of 21 will vote for half of the members of their municipal councils. On 11 October 2004, Prince Naif bin Abd al-Aziz, the Saudi Interior Minister, announced to a Kuwaiti newspaper that women would not be able to run as candidates or vote in the elections: "I do not think that women's participation is possible." Elections officials noted logistical concerns, such as the lack of separate women's voting booths and the fact that many women do not have photo identification cards, as well as opposition from conservative religious traditionalists.

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