 Dozens of losing candidates in Saudi Arabia's first regular election will contest results from the opening round of municipal balloting, arguing that conservative religious candidates won unfairly by claiming support from clerics, Saudi newspapers said Saturday. The Okaz daily reported that more than 30 losing candidates were scheduled to meet soon to draft a complaint to the election commission about the results of the vote, which was promoted by this country's absolute monarchy as a democratic reform. Another daily, Al-Riyadh, reported that some losing candidates planned to hire lawyers to challenge the results.
| "We have 10,000 lawyers, standing by, ready to contest the results!" |
Municipal elections are being held in three stages, with Thursday's first stage covering half the kingdom's city's councils. Only men were allowed to vote, and balloting was confined to the capital, Riyadh, and adjacent districts. Voting in other regions is scheduled for March and April. Many consider the elections a modest step toward democracy, but others see them as a remarkable development in a country ruled by a monarchy that considered any talk of participation in decision-making to be taboo.
| "Don't worry about making decisions! That's why you have us princes!" |
At least five of the winning candidates for the seven electable seats on the Riyadh City Council are believed to be Islamists, an election observer said Friday. Suleiman al-Oqaili said he saw the seven Riyadh winners' names on a list circulated via cell phones and the Internet. "It was promoted as a list that had a religious blessing," al-Oqaili said.
| If a bunch of holy men say to vote for them, then you know the rubes are gonna mark their ballots for them... |
Losing candidate Thafer al-Yami told The Associated Press he saw the winning list that was circulating. "These people have hijacked the elections," he said.
| "This council is illegitimate! There is no mandate!" |
Many of the winning candidates in Riyadh are either imams in mosques who preach conservative Islamic ideas, teachers or workers for Islamic charities, Saudi political analyst Mshari al Thaydi told the AP on Saturday.
| Whoa! Entirely unexpected! Who'da ever thunk that'd happen? |
Local newspapers characterized some winners as Islamists. Al-Riyadh called the results "largely unexpected."
The government will appoint the other half of the council and it could moderate the body by choosing liberal councilmen.
| Sure. That's prob'ly what'll happen. We're talking about Soddy Arabia, after all... |
In the districts around Riyadh, the winners were mostly from tribes and big families.
| Ummm... We're talking about the first elections in Soddy Arabia, not in the world. Who the hell writes this stuff? Did they keep this guy locked away in journalism school for 42 years, feeding him nothing but warm milk and gooey cookies, and then let him out to write just this one story? |
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