Saudi candidates learn politics

In the smoke-filled back office of a landscape architect, Ahmad Oweiss discusses election strategies with five potential political candidates seated in a circle around him.

Mr. Oweiss, a chemistry professor, is grooming the men for the country's first nationwide polls since Saudi Arabia's inception more than 60 years ago. "We're trying to educate them about the election process. This is a new experience for all of us. I'm learning along with them," he says.

The group, composed of the chemist, a lawyer, a retired Air Force colonel, a primary school teacher, a businessman, and a journalist, call themselves the Progressives. They hope to field 14 candidates for the municipal elections, which start in Riyadh Feb. 10.

The elections are part of the Saudi government's measured response to insistent calls for reform from both outside and inside the kingdom. While many welcome the chance to finally participate in local government, others say this is a meager beginning to democratic reforms in Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy where political parties are banned, press freedom is limited, and government critics often end up in jail.

Women will not be allowed to participate in the vote. According to the government, women are not taking part because of the logistics involved in setting up separate facilities for them in this conservative and segregated society.

The polls are intended to fill half the seats in 178 municipal councils spread out across the country. The other council members will be appointed by the government. In Riyadh, where registration for the three-stage polls started in November, turnout has been low. Voter registration ended with only 150,000 of an eligible 600,000 voters registered.

Ultraconservative Islamists see the election as an undesirable imported Western concept, while many liberals are boycotting the elections in protest over the limited scope of reform they represent. But Mansour al-Bakr, a landscape architect who heads the Progressives' support committee and provides the group with meeting space, says participation is necessary.

"We've been asking for reforms for years. If we don't participate in these elections, however minor they are, the government will think all our demands were just blah blah blah," he says.

Mr. Bakr spends his evenings on the phone persuading nephews and friends to register. He writes surveys to hand out to potential voters, asking what they're looking for in their candidates, and has compiled a list of more than 1,500 registered voters who the group will try to get to the polls in February.

It's worth all the hard work, he says, because the success of these elections is crucial for those who seek greater political participation. "It will encourage the government to open other avenues for elections, like the Shura [appointed council that advises the royal cabinet]," says Bakr.

Mohsen al-Awaji, a bearded liberal Islamist boycotting the elections, sips cardamom-flavored coffee in his office and watches a muted Al-Jazeera satellite channel. Mr. Awaji, who has been jailed several times for his activism and is currently banned from traveling outside the country because he criticized a senior prince, says he believes the ruling Al Saud family feels threatened by reforms.

Page: 1 | 2