| Comes as a surprise, huh? |
Islamist-backed candidates triumphed in Saudi Arabia's landmark council elections in the capital Riyadh, according to preliminary results released on Friday. Several losing candidates said the names of at least six of the seven winners had been on a list, which suggested they had Islamist backing. "I don't know them personally, but they had a religious character to them," said Zafer al-Yami, one of the defeated candidates said of the winners. Election commission chief Prince Mansour bin Miteb said the winning candidates for the seven seats up for grabs on the Riyadh city council were Abdullah al-Suweilam, Suleiman al-Rashoudi, Tareq al-Kassabi, Abdul-Aziz al-Omari, Omar Basudan, Ibrahim Quaid and Misfer al-Bawardi. Yami said he planned to appeal the result because he said the winners had violated election rules forbidding any public coalition or alliance of candidates. |