Council advises Saudi Arabia to give its women the right to vote and run in municipal elections

Saudi Arabia's advisory Shoura Council has said women should be allowed to vote and run as candidates in municipal elections.

Saudi authorities announced in March that half the seats in municipal councils would in future be elected, a radical step in a country ruled by an absolute monarch that has no elected government institutions.

But they ruled out female candidates or voters. Local officials cited logistical difficulties in arranging sex-segregated polling stations.

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Yesterday's Shoura Council statement said the council had agreed "that the Ministry of Rural and Municipal Affairs should take the necessary measures to include female voters in municipal elections, in accordance with Islamic Sharia".

"This was a general recommendation," said Mohammed Almuhanna, media spokesman for the Shoura Council. "It has nothing to do with the current elections, but is rather a recommendation for future elections."

Saudi Arabia has no political parties or national parliament, and the Shoura Council's members are appointed by the king. Although its decisions are not binding, it has become a forum for debate, encouraged by King Abdullah's calls for reform.

Hundreds of women around the kingdom have joined an online campaign called Baladi - Arabic for "My Country" - in protest against their exclusion from the municipal elections.

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