[gallery size="medium" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" td_gallery_title_input="Municipal Council Elections" ids="19937,19938,19940,19939"]
THE first Saudi election campaign open to women ended on Thursday but voters see little chance of a breakthrough for female candidates.
More than 900 women, along with some 6,000 men, are seeking seats on 284 municipal councils whose powers are restricted to local affairs including streets, public gardens and rubbish collection.
The vote has been hailed as a step forward. But many voters said tribal allegiances — rather than a candidate’s gender — would be a big factor in the ballot.
Um Mohammed, a 47-year-old woman living near the Kuwaiti border, said her daughters had helped organize the campaign of a female candidate, but she herself would back a man.
“I am voting for this candidate because he is from our tribe and he will ensure our rights. He also has a good personality and we have never heard anything negative about him,” she said.
Her husband had dinner with the candidate at his campaign tent, helping to confirm their choice, she said.
Such tents — traditional male gathering places in Saudi Arabia that can be as large as houses — have been a common way for candidates to get their message across during Saudi municipal elections.
Ballots for local councils have taken place twice before, in 2005 and 2011, with only male candidates and voters.
Um Mohammed may have chosen her candidate but whether she makes it to the polling station on Saturday is another matter.
Unable to drive and with no taxis in her community, Um Mohammed said she can only vote if her husband takes her, or if a group of women rent a car and driver together.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive. They require permission from male family members to travel, work or marry.
Like elsewhere in the country, strict separation of sexes applies to election facilities.
Women’s rights in the Kingdom took a leap under the late King Abdullah, who died in January. Many have welcomed female participation in the ballot as a step forward for women’s rights.
The campaign has been a struggle however, with some women candidates barred from taking part and others withdrawing under pressure.
Another northeastern woman, who asked not to be named, said the female candidate she wanted to vote for pulled out of the election after local scholars objected.
“She withdrew after the scholars said it’s forbidden for a woman to run in the elections,” said the woman, a teacher.
“I don’t believe the female candidates will be given much power even if they win.”
A male voter in the eastern city of Hafr Al-Batin said it was difficult to know whether to support a woman candidate as men have been unable to meet them or see their faces.
“You have to work extra hard to understand” a female candidate, he said, while he could share food or coffee offered by male contenders.
“I don’t think any man here would vote for a woman,” the man said, adding that he will cast his ballot for a fellow tribesman.
“Even without the campaign I already know he’s a good man,” he said, declining to be named.
A Western diplomat has said “it will be a huge positive surprise” if any women are actually elected on Saturday.
Still, he said he expects some will be appointed as only two-thirds of council seats are elected.
The campaign has been low key, with rules preventing photographs of candidates applied to both men and women.
Omar Mohammed, a 49-year-old accountant who will vote in Jeddah, said he had not come across any female campaigners. “I will probably vote for one of the men,” he said.
