Riyadh: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, of Saudi Arabia received here on Thursday Sayyid Badr bin Saud bin Harib Al Busaidi, Minister Responsible for Defence Affairs and his GCC counterparts representatives of the countries taking part in the concluding military exercise 'Ra'ad Al Shamal' at King Khalid Military City.
SAUDI women were waiting for December 2015 to enter for the first time the Municipal Council. Some 20 women are now participating in Municipal Council deliberations at different regions in the Kingdom while the total number of Municipal Council members exceeds 3,150. Though the women seats are few yet their participation has come after a long journey, said activists.
RIYADH: Since assuming office as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques last year, King Salman’s leadership has seen deep political insight and dedicated efforts to serve the Kingdom and its citizens.
RIYADH: Nearly two million people around the world visited the Saudi municipal elections’ website during the election period, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The elections, whose results were announced recently, made use of the late
JEDDAH: The Shoura Council will vote on Monday (today) on a proposal to identify tasks of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Haia) by issuing specific guidelines for the body’s members.
A Shoura me
DAMMAM — Women members of municipal councils will not interact with their male counterparts face-to-face, according to Director General of Municipal Councils Affairs Judai Al-Qahtani.
“We are making a lot of new adjustments with the participation of women in the council. However, we will not compromise the religious boundaries. Female members have equal rights as male members of the council but they will not have mixed meetings,” said Al-Qahtani.
RIYADH: There has been praise from citizens, civil society, and several countries around the globe for the Kingdom hosting elections that allowed women to participate for the first time as voters and candidates.
The elections saw voters elect 20 women to municipal councils alongside 2,086 men. Four women were elected in Riyadh, making it the city with the highest number of women representatives.
They are Alia bint Makiman bin Ghabn Al-Furaiji, Huda bint Abdulrahman bin Ali Al-Jeraisi and Jawahar bint Othman bin Nasser Al-Saleh.
BAHA/NAJRAN: A number of districts and provinces failed to elect women for municipal council seats in Saturday's elections despite the fact that the number of female voters in all electoral centers in Baha reached 946 voters.
The lack of election of women to municipal councils in the area has sparked questions and concerns, especially in light of the enthusiasm of female voters and keenness of officials to ensure female participation in the region.
RIYADH: A low women’s turnout was registered in the electoral process in the Al-Khaleej neighborhood in the third electoral district with the exception of Al-Rawdah Center, which was characterized by medium to low turnout of female voters under the age of 20.
Middle-aged and older female voters turned out in greater numbers to vote in the municipal elections. These categories of women voters were much noticed going to cast their ballots for the 67 male and female contenders.
RIYADH: The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) has declared the third municipal elections free and fair but said there were problems that hampered voters and candidates, including some breaking campaigning rules.
JEDDAH — A number of Saudi women candidates for the municipal elections who failed to make it this time did not regret the experience of running for the elections and said they would again run for the next elections four years from now.
They said the experience was fruitful regardless of success or failure.
“My candidacy was a dream come true. I was not disheartened by my failure,” said Miaad Sami Shaqra, a candidate who failed to win.
RIYADH: The municipal election results sprung a surprise on Sunday with 19 women, out of a total of 2,106 candidates, emerging victorious and defying the general expectations of people across the Kingdom that fewer of them would win.
JEDDAH: All preparations have been completed for the municipal elections in Jeddah on Saturday.
This is according to Hani Abu Ras, the city’s mayor and head of the local elections committee, who said voting would take place at 109 election centers from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Abu Ras urged the 113,204 male voters and 4,593 female voters in Jeddah to exercise their right to select the best candidate for the municipal council, to help improve services in the city and surrounding areas, said a media report on Thursday.
THE first Saudi election campaign open to women ended on Thursday but voters see little chance of a breakthrough for female candidates.
More than 900 women, along with some 6,000 men, are seeking seats on 284 municipal councils whose powers are restricted to local affairs including streets, public gardens and rubbish collection.
The vote has been hailed as a step forward. But many voters said tribal allegiances — rather than a candidate’s gender — would be a big factor in the ballot.
JEDDAH: Many women candidates have withdrawn from the upcoming Dec.
DAMMAM: The Eastern Province (EP) topped in the number of females enrolled in the Dec. 12 municipal elections with 20.1 percent, followed by Riyadh (14.8 percent) and Northern Region (9.1 percent).
An official report titled “The municipal elections system project” has revealed that 22 percent of females will participate in the elections across the Kingdom, as against 78 percent males.
The elections are historic considering that women are participating, as voters as well as candidates, for the first time in Saudi Arabia.
TAIF: Voters taking photographs inside election booths would have their votes disqualified for the municipal council elections taking place on Dec. 12, according to Taif’s election committee.
They would also be excluded if they use their mobile phones inside election centers to communicate with candidates or take photographs of ballot papers, the committee was quoted as saying by a local publication recently.
JEDDAH — So far 120 out of 1,019 women candidates running for municipal councils have withdrawn their candidatures, Al-Hayat Arabic daily quoted National Committee for the Municipal Elections spokesman Jidai Al-Qahtani as saying on Tuesday.
He said the total number of candidates was 7,380, but 384 candidates have withdrawn.
Fifty of the candidates who withdrew were from Riyadh. The last day for withdrawal in Riyadh was on Thursday. All remaining candidates must go through to the fourth phase and campaign for their election.
RIYADH: Chairman of the executive committee and spokesman of the municipal council elections Jadee Al-Qahtani said using technology in municipalelections contributed to easing access to electoral information to candidates and voters.
The electric portal opened new doors in communicating with people and candidates, whether on official website of the municipality or in the Entikhab application on smartphones, saying text messages are among the most effective methods of communicating with voters.
