Prince Mut'ab bin Abdul Aziz is the Head of the Election Committee in Saudi Arabia. He probably got the job because of his open mindedness.
He said, "I expect women to participate in elections in future stages, after conducting studies to assess whether it is useful or not.
Saudi Arabia is having its first elections this year. These will allow voters to choose half of the members of the municipal councils; the other half will be appointed by the government. Only male Saudis over the age of 21 are allowed to
Saudi women are a majority of the population. They are not allowed to vote even though the country's electoral law does not prevent them.
They are not even allowed to seek urgent medical attention without the presence of an immediate male relative.
They are not allowed to study any subject they want - law and engineering, for example, are closed to them:
They cannot travel without the explicit approval of husband or a male guardian, drive. or work in most government offices. Even when hired in a private office, they are usually put in a separate room from men.
Dr. Salih Al-Omeir headed a delegation to Britain of the Consultative Council (Majlis AlShura), a hand-picked group of grandees which the Saudi Royal Family "consults". No restrictions?
He puts forward a slightly idiosyncratic interpretation of Saudi society and the word "restrictions", telling a group of British parliamentarians that the Kingdom's laws and regulations do not impose restrictions
His view seems to be shared by the British and American governments. Their silence on the intense oppression of Saudi women and this travesty of an election with the imperialists rhetoric on Iran and the Palestinian Authority illuminates just how self-seeking and dishonest is their commitment to democracy.
In Britain's case this is because exports to Saudi Arabia have comprised the vast majority of the UK's military exports (75 per cent 1992 to 1994, and 41 per cent in 1998).
Since 1990, the U.S. government, through the Pentagon's arms export programme, has arranged for the delivery of more than $39.6 billion in military sales.
The ultra conservative Saudi royal family is imperialism's second most important base of support in the region as well as controlling significant oil reserves.
Women's rights and democracy weigh as nothing in the scales against these things in the imperialists view of the