File photo of Saudi Arabia ’s flag

RIYADH , August 5 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Saudi Arabia is to start holding municipal elections in November 2004, the first concrete political reforms in the absolute monarchy in decades, press reports said on Thursday, August 5.

Council elections will be held in the capital Riyadh after the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in mid-November, according to the official SPA news agency.

The second stage will take place in the east and south before the annual Hajj, which begins in January, with the rest of the country to cast ballots after that, the agency was quoted by the BBC News Online as saying.

The SPA said the municipal polls announcement came after Saudi officials met UN experts to discuss the details of the poll.

Election organizers are planning to hold polls for 178 municipalities in 13 districts across Saudi Arabia over the three stages.

Milestone

Still, the polls are seen as a first step towards political reform, as Saudi Arabia has never had political elections at any level since its creation in 1932.

Press reports said the municipal elections would give Saudis the chance to participate — though only in a limited manner — in decision making, a rare event in the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia announced last October that it planned to hold elections, but the move drew mixed reactions in the oil-rich Kingdom.

Skeptics have seen the decision as a way to face growing demands from the United States and Saudi liberals to pursue "democratic reforms".

The desert kingdom has come under pressure from the US and campaigners for change, according to the BBC News Online.

US politicians and commentators say the country's autocratic rule has provided a fertile breeding ground for fanaticism and violence, it added.

The kingdom has seen numerous steps towards reform, including convention of conferences to talk about reform.

The kingdom's third National Dialogue Forum wrapped up on June 14, three days of brainstorming with a call for granting Saudi women their rights guaranteed by Islamic Shari`ah.

Participants, including 70 Saudi religious and academic figures, half of them women, called for drawing a line between traditions and the Islamic tenets regarding women's rights.

In December last year, King Fahd issued a royal decree, whereby Shura Council is granted additional powers previously held by the monarch himself.

Too Little

Still, opposition members have said holding elections means too little in the absence of basic freedoms or full national elections.

Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy with an unelected Consultative Council that acts like a parliament. Political parties are banned and press freedoms are limited.

The 120-member Shura Council is appointed by King Fahd who in the early 1990s issued three decrees outlining the basic statutes of government in the country.

Domestic reformers have also increased their criticism of unemployment, corruption and the absence of free speech in the country.