Convincing People to Take a Small Step
Abeer Mishkhas, abeermishkhas@arabnews.com

During a roundtable media discussion with British journalists last week in London, one commented that municipal elections in Saudi Arabia were only a miniscule step towards democracy. He observed that other countries, such as Afghanistan and Iraq, were actually holding presidential elections, which signified political maturity and the drastic changes taking place in those countries.

For my part, I said that no matter how small the step, I think it matters to every Saudi. Our problem, however, is not in what kind of elections we have but rather that we simply have no idea of what elections are or are supposed to accomplish. The entire political concept is very hazy here; people have different ideas about elections, most of them acquired from reading about other countries’ experiences or watching TV coverage of other countries’ elections. I suggested that this lack of awareness was an important factor in low voter turnout in Riyadh….

Another good article from Abeer Mishkhas. Here, she talks about how she, as a Saudi, views the current municipal elections. She recognizes that theyr’e not of the same import as the Iraqi or Palestinian elections, but in the context of Saudi Arabia, they are even bigger. She notes some of the problems–primarily the utter strangeness of being asked to take responsibility for things once the sole reserve of a dynastic government. Worth reading the whole piece.