You Should Lead With This...
Far be it for I to criticize but not offer a way to solve the problem. This I think is big, big news. The Saudi people are voting. Okay, it's not for the highest office, and women aren't allowed to vote, but it's certainly a step in the right direction. Some took it very seriously, even saying that they will frame their voter registration card. What concerns me is that only around 25% of eligible voters used their new right of voting. I wonder why that was; the article doesn't elaborate.
posted by Mike @ 2/10/2005 10:43:00 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
The low turnout in the Riyadh region--the first of three regions to be voting--is probably because this is the most conservative part of the country and people's reaction to a "new" thing was cautious.
So far, registration for both the Eastern and Western regions--which vote later this year--are considerably higher.
I'm blogging Saudi Arabia at Crossroads Arabia if you're interested in the details.
I suspect turnout was low for several reasons:
1. Saudi elections are still a bit of a sham.
2. When high offices aren't involved, turnout is always low. Off-term elections in the US frequently have similar turnout.
3. The integrity of these elections is probably suspect. Citizens probably wonder why they should bother. It's sort of like living in Chicago, really.
Thanks for the HTML tip by the way, that fixed it.
Like living in Chicago! Or, these days, like living in Milwaukee...
Yeah, or Milwaukee. I've lived in both and it's pretty much the same. At least in Milwaukee there is some concern about it. In Chicago it's an accepted fact of life.
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