Saudi Women Won't Vote in Elections

[Rose Siding]

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Women will not vote in Saudi Arabia's municipal elections, the first nationwide polls to be held in the autocratic kingdom, the interior minister said in remarks published Monday, dashing the hopes of progressives who see such participation as vital to reform.

An electoral official said administrative reasons were behind the decision to ban women from running or voting in the municipal elections to be held in three stages next year.

The official, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity, said there are not enough women to run women's only registration centers and polling stations, and only a fraction have photo identity cards. Many women in this devoutly Muslim kingdom balked against getting the ID cards -- introduced in 2001 -- because the pictures would show their faces unveiled.
..........
"I am not happy," said Nour Ahmed, a 22-year-old marketing graduate. "Why aren't men and women equal in this issue?"

"I support the decision," countered her friend Sarah Muhammad, 19, a university student. "Women don't know how to vote with their minds, like men. They vote with their emotions."

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-saudi-womens-rights,0,5985020.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[Ellen Forradalom]

1. Now wait a sec--if you've never voted

how do you know that 'women vote with their emotions?' And what's wrong with wholehearted support or righteous indignation, anyway?

[Momgonepostal]

2. "Women don't know how to vote..."

If she were an American, she'd be a Republican.

[yardwork]

3. Freepers vote with their emotions

Maybe this idea will catch on....

[AndyTiedye]

14. Just a Flop

> re "Bush is Just a Flop"

a more appropriate graphic might be one of those really cheezy flip-flops
where the strap pulls out the fisrt time you wear them on the beach.

[napi21]

4. Just another reason the US should stay out of their business!

Those countries have their own culture. We don't understand it, and they don't WANT ours. If the women asked us to help them be able to vote, that's one thing, but they didn't.

[athena]

5. And we all know, men NEVER vote with their emotions.

:eyes:

Do men even have emotions?:silly:

[Dark Jedi]

12. "Real Men" Vote Bush.

Yeah. Pretty ridiculous subject line, right? I bet you can find it on a lot of conservative sites though. "Emotions and feelings are for libruls" - a common Freeper/social conservative belief.

[mitchum]

6. Why do we continue to prop up the pigs of the House of Saud?

I look forward to the inevitable revolution in that country

[FullCountNotRecount]

7. Kerry in next Debate: Your Saudi pals don't allow women to vote!

Zing!

[Ohio rules]

16. LOL., next day ...OIL goes to $80 nt

[TroglodyteScholar]

8. Looks like those Saudis need....

...some good old liberation, American-style.

Eh, nevermind.

[saigon68]

9. Maybe the CHIMP will use the 82nd Airborne to liberate their sorry asses

It worth wishing for you know --- kill a few of the Saudi Ragheads</Sarcasm>

[JCMach1]

10. Hold onto your horses... women didn't get the right to vote

in our country until the first quarter was almost finished...

Even local elections PERIOD are a step forward for the Kingdom.


But yes, the house of Saud :(

[GinaMaria]

11. It's amazing to think about, isn't it?

My grandmother was born at a time when she couldn't vote. She was the first generation to vote. I'm a third generation voting woman. I vote with my whole brain, btw, logic, emotions, eye on the future, remembering the past. Everything I am is there in the voting booth. How could it not be? I think of my grandmother everytime I vote.

[Southpaw Bookworm]

13. Voting rights

When I vote, I think of a scene I witnessed in one of the Smithsonian museums. There was an exhibit on the civil rights movement, including one where an elderly man was being beaten next to a sign that said "Register to Vote." I listed to this maybe 37-year-old black woman explain to her 10-year-old son that when she was a child, black folks weren't allowed to vote in a lot of places. But the law was changed to protect them so that they could vote, and how important a responsibility voting is.

[Ohio rules]

17. and women in Afghanistan voted for the 1st time this week

Time will tell how that plays out in the middle east over the next several years.

[Oreegone]

15. How about this

No flip All Flop.......

Yeah that is a democracy alright, them there womens don't need to be votin when they could be cookin and screwin.

Ok so we couldn't vote at first but that was nearly 90 years ago. Do they really need to start back that far to have a Democracy?????

[Disturbed]

18. Won't vote or cannot vote?

That's a confusing headline. I guess the women there will never vote as long as they are not allowed or do not wish to show their faces.

[Ohio rules]

19. Give me that old time religion.....

Allah


has cast the role of women into stone.
Somewhere between .....livestock and
...mans best friend.