King Abdullah Gives Saudi Women Right to Vote for First Time c.2011 Bloomberg News

Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia has given women the right to vote for the first time in its modern history as part of changes King Abdullah today said will allow them to run in future municipal elections.

“We refuse to marginalize the role of women in Saudi society in every field of work,” Abdullah said on state television as he inaugurated a new session of the council. “Women have the right to submit their candidacy for municipal council membership and have the right to take part in submitting candidates in accordance with Shariah.”

Saudi Arabia enforces gender restrictions interpreted from the Wahhabi version of Sunni Islam. Men and women are strictly segregated in public, including at schools, restaurants and lines at fast-food takeouts. That keeps women out of sales jobs in malls and stores, unless the outlet caters exclusively to a female clientele.

The King also today said woman can now be part of an advisory council to him. Abdullah, who was born in 1924, has promised to improve the status of women and opened the first co- educational university in 2009. He appointed the kingdom’s first female deputy minister, Nora bint Abdullah al-Fayez, the same year and has said he will provide more access to jobs for women. Women are still not allowed to drive.

The Riyadh-based council, a 150 member assembly, is appointed by the king to advise on legislation. The assembly consists of 12 committees, including for human rights, foreign affairs and energy. The council, whose current speaker is Abdullah Al al-Sheikh, is permitted to propose draft laws and present them to the king.

The king said the decision was taken “after consultations with many of our scholars, especially those in the senior scholars council, and others,” who supported this move.

Municipal Elections

“The whole issue was about enfranchising women into the political process,” Mohammed al-Qahtani, a Riyadh-based democracy activist, said by phone today. “For women, obviously, it is a good step.”

Saudi Arabia will hold municipal elections on Sept. 29, without the participation of women. The next vote is in 2015. About 1.2 million all-male voters have registered to elect 816 municipal council members in the kingdom’s second municipal elections. Saudi Arabia held its first municipal elections in February 2005.

The Shoura Council agreed in June that the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs should complete procedures that will allow women to vote in municipal elections “in line with Islamic law,” the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is an absolute monarchy and has been ruled by six kings since it was established in 1932.

Second Speech

This was the second televised speech Abdullah gave to the nation this year. In March, Abdullah ordered sweeping increases in spending, including $67 billion on housing and funds for the military and religious groups that backed the government’s ban on domestic protests.

That speech came as the Middle East witnessed unprecedented unrest as popular movements toppled leaders in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. Violent clashes persist in Saudi Arabia’s neighbors, Yemen and Bahrain. The world’s largest oil supplier didn’t experience political unrest although there were limited protests held by the Shiite minority in the kingdom’s Eastern Province.

Saudi Arabia celebrated its National Day on Sept. 23. King Abdullah initiated the holiday in 2005 when he came to power. Traffic stopped in Riyadh as young men danced on the streets, blasted music from their cars and waved national flags as religious police watched on without intervening.

“We are determined to spend on large-scale projects on the economic level to make sure that the kingdom is away from any impact of the slowing global economy,” the Saudi Press Agency reported today, citing a written copy of Abdullah’s speech.

--With assistance from Sarah Abdullah in Jeddah, Donna Abu-Nasr in Manama, Bahrain, and Mourad Haroutunian in Riyadh. Editors: Andrew J. Barden, Ben Holland

To contact the reporter on this story: Glen Carey in Riyadh at gcarey8bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at bardenbloomberg.net