Saudi King gives women right to vote

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has announced he is giving women the right to vote and run in municipal elections, the only public polls in the ultra-conservative Gulf kingdom. He also announced on Sunday that women would have the right to join the all-appointed Shura (consultative) Council, in an address opening a new term of the council. "Starting with the next term, women will have the right to run in municipal elections and to choose candidates, according to Islamic principles," he said. He said they would also have the right to be appointed to the consultative Shura Council. The news will be welcomed by activists who have long called for greater rights for women in the ultra-conservative kingdom. The changes will take effect from next year, the king said. King Abdullah announced the move in a speech at the opening of the new term of the Shura Council. "Because we refuse to marginalise women in society in all roles that comply with sharia, we have decided, after deliberation with our senior ulama [clerics] and others... to involve women in the Shura Council as members, starting from next term," he said. "Women will be able to run as candidates in the municipal election and will even have a right to vote." Women rights activists have long fought to gain the right to vote in the kingdom that applies a strict version of Sunni Islam and bans women from driving or travelling without the consent of a male guardian. More than 5000 men will compete in Thursday's municipal elections, only the second in Saudi Arabia's history, to fill half the seats in the kingdom's 285 municipal councils. The other half are appointed by the government. The first elections were held in 2005, but the government extended the existing councils' term for two more years. More than 60 Saudi intellectuals and activists have called for a boycott of the ballot for excluding women. Saudi Arabia's Shura Council had recommended allowing women to vote in the next local polls, officials have said.