Topic: Encouraging Political Participation by Women
Country: Saudi Arabia
Delegate Name: Lily Martin
School: Forest Hills Central High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Saudi Arabia position papers GLIMUN 2017 committees
Saudi Arabia government is dominated by a vast royal family, the Al Sad. In the government of Saudi Arabia, the members of the family are the principal political actors. Saudi Arabia is continuing to encourage political participation for Saudi women especially. Saudi Arabia is doing an exceptional job at actively improving political participation for women. We are continuing to improve. The reason for women not being able to participate in previous elections, such as the 2005 election, was because not enough women would be available to staff female only polling stations. Female only polling stations are a necessity because we believe women should limit their time with men whom them are not married or related to. In addition, only a small number of women at the time held ID cards which are a requirement to vote in Saudi Arabia. In September 2011, King Abdullah announced that "Women will be able to run as candidates in the municipal election and will even have a right to vote”. Women now have the right to both vote and stand for election from 2012, meaning that they were entitled to participate in the 2015 municipal elections. King Abdullah said women in Saudi Arabia "have demonstrated positions that expressed correct opinions and advice". The majority of our citizens our happy with the changes we have made. Other countries to look towards Saudi Arabia as an example. Saudi Arabia managed to balance our beliefs to find a happy medium.
