Saudis register for landmark poll

By Kim Ghattas
BBC News

Billboards on the streets urge people to register

Voter registration is due to start on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia for landmark municipal elections which will be held next year in three rounds.

Voters in the capital, Riyadh, will be able to sign up until 22 December and voting will start on 10 February.

These are the first elections to be held in the kingdom in over 40 years.

They are part of the reforms launched by the House of Saud in response to international and domestic calls for political and social change.

No more delays

The Saudi municipal elections were first announced for October.

Then they were postponed until November and then again postponed until February.

Many Saudis were convinced that any time now, the authorities would announce yet another delay in the landmark elections, citing as they had before, their need for more time to prepare or invoking security concerns.

Authorities balked at giving women the vote

The kingdom has been the scene of many attacks by Islamist militants over the last year.

But now it looks like it is all really happening.

As of Tuesday, voters in Riyadh will have one month to register in some 140 polling stations around the city.

Billboards have mushroomed on the capital's streets, calling on people to register and make their voices heard.

All Saudi citizens older than 21, including prisoners, will be able to vote - well, all citizens except members of the military and women.

The interior minister, Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz, has ruled out their participation this time; and voters will only be electing half of the council's members.

The other half will be appointed.

So the elections will certainly not be a perfect exercise in democracy in the absolute monarchy, but Saudis hope they are a step in the right direction.

If all goes according to plan in Riyadh, two more rounds of voting will take place in other parts of the country in March and April.