In Saudis' first nationwide poll, candidates test limits

"It's a hot topic, a gimmick, a hook to get them in," says Bakheet, who got his first lessen in democracy as a student at Ohio Universitywhen he was voted international student president.

A bearded man comes up to Bakheet after the talk and asks, "How about the Saudi telecom stocks? Should I invest in those?"

Though Bakheet attracts crowds because of his financial expertise, he says his main issue is accountability. "I think it's time we hold our officials accountable," he says. "I don't want the wrong people to get in [the councils]. This is our first attempt at democracy, and it needs to succeed."

Lawyer and reformist Bassem Alem would like to see faster democratic reforms, but he says just the fact of holding elections is in itself historic.

"The word [elections] was taboo up until several years ago. It's the first time that Saudis can go around and discuss issues and make demands and ask questions and talk about our rights as citizens and what we want from the government," says Alem. "Once you get a bit of the sweet taste of freedom you cannot let it go."

Prince Talal bin Abdul-Aziz, a brother of King Fahd and an outspoken advocate for democratic reform and women's rights, says he knows from last year's meeting of senior princes that the ruling family has the intention and desire to make changes, but there's disagreement on the pace.

"There are different schools of thought. Some want to keep the status quo. Some want reform in stages. I'm one of those. And some want immediate changes. The [royal] family wants to balance between these three schools of thought," he says.

"The hope is that [we] the sons of Abdul-Aziz [the kingdom's founder] continue to meet and come up with our own reform project and agenda," he says.

Analysts say the decision not to allow women to vote or run for this year's elections is actually an attempt at moving forward slowly by appeasing the country's conservatives, a large and influential segment of the society.

Officials have said, though, that women will take part in 2009. Hatoon al-Fassi, a leading suffragette, has written numerous articles demanding that women be appointed to the municipal councils since they were excluded from voting or running.

"We would like to see all the appointees [by the government] be women. That's the only way it would be fair," she says.

In the meantime, the men whose names are most associated with Democratic reform, academics Matrouk al-Faleh and Abdullah al-Hamid, and poet Ali al-Domeini, remain behind bars after being arrested in March for making critical statements against the government. All three openly advocated speedier democratic reforms. Their lawyer, Abdul-Rahman al-Lahem, was arrested in November.

Khaled al-Mutairi, who represents the men, says their detention is illegal. "They have not committed any crime. They are prisoners of conscience. The fact that the government doesn't agree with their demands does not give them the right to arrest them," he says.

Mr. al-Faleh's son, Amer, a computer specialist, did not register to vote because he finds the whole issue of elections a paradox. "How can I vote when my father has been in prison for a year now because he was asking for elections?" he says.

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