View source for 2005 Saudi Arabian municipal elections

{{Infobox Election
| election_name = 2005 Saudi Arabian municipal elections
| country = Saudi Arabia
| type = parliamentary
| flag_year =
| ongoing = no
| previous_election = 
| previous_year = 
| next_election = 2011 Saudi Arabian municipal elections
| next_year = 2011
| seats_for_election = 178 municipalities
| turnout =
| election_date = 10 February-21 April 2005
}}

{{Politics of Saudi Arabia}}
'''Municipal elections''' for 178 municipalities were held in [[Saudi Arabia]] between 10 February and 21 April 2005. The first to be held in the country since the 1960s, the elections were held in three stages: the first on 10 February around the capital city of [[Riyadh]], the second in the [[Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia|east]] and southwest on 3 March, and the third, in the north, on 21 April.<ref name=CNN01>[http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/10/saudi.elections/index.html "Saudi Arabia holds municipal elections"], CNN, 10 February 2005. The source covers only the general fact of the elections.</ref><ref>Ménoret, Pascal, [http://arab-reform.net/IMG/pdf/EN_saudi__final.pdf "The Municipal Elections in Saudi Arabia 2005: First Steps on a Democratic Path"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110919123006/http://www.arab-reform.net/IMG/pdf/EN_saudi__final.pdf |date=2011-09-19 }}, Arab Reform Initiative, [http://arab-reform.net/spip.php?page=recherche&recherche=menoret 27 December 2005] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330231156/http://www.arab-reform.net/spip.php?page=recherche&recherche=menoret |date=30 March 2012 }}. This source covers all facts in the introduction except the exact regional staging parameters. Ménoret is identified as research fellow, King Faisal Foundation for Research and Islamic Studies (presumably the [[King Faisal Foundation]]'s [[King Faisal Foundation#King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies|King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies]]). Retrieved 2011-09-25.</ref>

Male citizens over the age of 21 voted for half of the members of their municipal councils. On 11 October 2004, [[Prince Naif|Prince Nayef bin Abd al-Aziz]], the Saudi Interior Minister, announced to a [[Kuwait]]i newspaper that women would not be able to run as candidates or vote in the elections: "I do not think that [[Women's suffrage|women's participation]] is possible." Elections officials noted logistical concerns, such as the lack of separate women's voting booths and the fact that many women do not have identification cards, as well as opposition from conservative religious traditionalists. Saudi women's rights campaigner [[Hatoon al-Fassi]] felt that authorities giving a practical reason for non-participation of women rather than a religious reason constituted a success for women's campaigning, since arguing against practical objections is easier than arguing against religious objections.<ref name="pbs2005election" /> Prince Mansour bin Turki bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud expressed the hope that women would be able to vote in the 2009 elections.<ref name=CNN01/> In March 2011, the delayed [[Saudi Arabian municipal elections, 2011|elections were announced]] for 23 April 2011.<ref name="Star_KSA_municip_2011">{{cite news |title=Saudi Arabia to hold elections next month after year and a half delay |date=2011-03-22 |publisher=[[The Star (Toronto)|The Star]]/[[Associated Press|AP]] |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/958117--saudi-arabia-to-hold-elections-next-month-after-year-and-a-half-delay |access-date=2011-03-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008084230/http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/958117--saudi-arabia-to-hold-elections-next-month-after-year-and-a-half-delay |archive-date=2011-10-08 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="TheNational_KSA_municip_2011">{{cite news | title=Women remain barred from voting as Saudi Arabia announces elections | date=2011-03-23 | publisher=[[The National (Abu Dhabi)]]/[[Associated Press|AP]]/[[Bloomberg L.P.|Bloomberg]] | url=http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/middle-east/women-remain-barred-from-voting-as-saudi-arabia-announces-elections | access-date=2011-03-22 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111142330/http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/middle-east/women-remain-barred-from-voting-as-saudi-arabia-announces-elections | archive-date=2011-11-11 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Election results of Riyadh region==
On 10 February 2005, the first round of the elections was realized in the [[Riyadh]] region and [[Islamist]]s won the majority, taking all the seven available seats. A total of 646 candidates were on the list. Those who were not chosen accused the Saudi religious establishment for using the backing of to get votes, and breaking election laws for campaigning on the election day. The winners, on the other hand, denied all these allegations. In the election campaigns, those who used ads in newspapers, posters or other ways to meet the potential voters that are much more traditional election strategies did not win in the election, while those who did not employ any of these strategies won in the election. However, the winners employed much more advanced strategies such as internet and mobile phones that is regarded as a tactic frequently preferred by Islamist groupings in the region to expand their ideas.<ref name="Kapiszewski 2006 459–482">{{cite journal|last=Kapiszewski|first=Andrzej|title=Saudi Arabia : Steps Toward Democratization or Reconfiguration of Authoritarianism?|journal=Journal of African and Asian Studies|year=2006|volume=41|issue=5–6|pages=459–482|doi=10.1177/0021909606067407|s2cid=144162867}}</ref>

==Election results in other cities==
In [[Jeddah]], the most liberal Saudi city, all the seven winning candidates were those supported by the prominent conservative religious scholars among 530 candidates. Five of the six winners in [[Buraydah]], the capital of the very conservative Qaseem province, also gained a similar clerical support. Islamists won all the seats in the holy cities of [[Mecca]] and [[Medina]] as well. In the eastern regions, several non-Islamist candidates were elected on 3 March 2005. Shiites swept the board in the town of [[Qatif]] and won five out of six seats in [[Al-Ahsa Governorate|al-Hasa]]. However, in the urban centres of the eastern regions such as [[Dammam]], [[Dhahran]] and [[Al Khobar]] that are inhabited by considerable Shi’ite population [[Sunni]] candidates won the seats with the help of the support they secured from fundamentalist clerics.<ref name="Kapiszewski 2006 459–482"/>

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="pbs2005election">
{{cite news | title=Interview Dr. Hatoon al-Fassi | date=2004-12-10 | publisher=[[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] | url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saud/interviews/alfassi.html | access-date=2011-05-29 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522211114/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saud/interviews/alfassi.html | archive-date=2011-05-22 | url-status=live }}
</ref>
}}

{{Saudi Arabian elections}}

[[Category:2005 elections in Asia|Saudi Arabia]]
[[Category:2005 in Saudi Arabia|Municipal elections]]
[[Category:Elections in Saudi Arabia|2005 municipal]]
[[Category:Municipal elections in Saudi Arabia]]