JEDDAH — Some 979 women candidates are vying for seats on the 284 municipal councils, the campaigning for which begins on Sunday. "Election campaigning kicks off Sunday and lasts for 12 days," according to Chairman of the Executive Committee for the Municipal Elections Judae Bin Nahar Al-Qahtani. Candidates can use billboards, print and social media for campaigning. But they cannot use mosques, public utilities, govt facilities, education institutions, charitable societies, sports and cultural clubs. They are also not allowed to seek support from foreign quarters. The use of state official logos, flags, govt slogans, religious symbols, historic or tribals names, pictures of public figures is also not allowed. Candidates cannot use government or private TV channels for campaigning. They are also not allowed to campaign for one another. The use of any expression or pictures that violate public morals and values is banned. Data cited by the Saudi electoral commission show 6,917 candidates are vying for seats on the 284 councils. Out of them 5,938 are males and 979 are females. According to the intekhab.gov.sa elections website, just 130,600 women have signed up to vote, compared to around 10 times that number of male voters. Aside from transport problems, women say their voter registration was hindered by a lack of awareness of the process and its significance. "I myself had a very difficult time to register", said Sahar Hassan Nasief, a Jeddah resident who has many friends running as candidates. She had to go "back and forth and back and forth until I got my name down" but nonetheless encouraged others to make the effort. "Even my mum who's 95... she too went to register," she said. — With agencies
