If someone had told me a few months ago that I would be attending a roundtable discussion on the role of civil society in the electoral process in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, I would have thought it was impossible. This is what one of the female participants, an American, told me during the three-day roundtable event organized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at its headquarters in collaboration with the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division (UNEAD) and with the participation of election experts from international organizations and civil society organizations from several countries. The American woman was excited about attending the meeting in Jeddah, but was more excited to hear about the participation of Saudi women for the first time as voters and candidates in the municipal elections about to take place in Saudi Arabia. It is another step forward for women. Certainly the role of civil society, especially of women's groups and initiatives, in raising awareness, training and supporting the voters and candidates was also brought up. With the process of registering voters launched three weeks ago and registering nominees last week, the importance of civil society was obvious. For voters to register they need their national ID, a copy of their family card and proof of residence (a copy of the house deed or rental contract or a utility bill). This last requirement has proved to be an obstacle for many women to register because clearly officials at the Ministry of Municipality and Rural Affairs did not realize how difficult it could be and did not allow for alternative means for obtaining proof of residency. First, let me start by noting the everyday frustration of women in securing transportation for their errands. For those who are fortunate enough to have a driver or a supportive and accommodating relative to take them to the registration center in their neighborhood, the difficulty was in locating the center as the addresses and maps provided by the Ministry on its website were sometimes inaccurate. A group of active women took it upon themselves to locate the correct centers according to the neighborhood districts and to make a table with the names of the neighborhoods, the district number and the registration centers with the address, interactive Google map and phone numbers and distributed that via social media. What about those women who do not have or cannot afford transportation? Let us keep in mind that this is a new experience for women and there is a lack of awareness in society in general, and among women in particular, on the role of the municipal councils, and the importance of voting and participating in the community. Unfortunately, there were no awareness or educational campaigns conducted months before the registration process began. If it were not for grassroots efforts by women's groups, especially Baladi Initiative, for pursuing the right of women to vote and run in the elections, which was denied them in the previous two rounds in 2005 and 2011, and for raising awareness and encouraging women and their families to register and vote, there would have been even less of a turnout than that which we are witnessing. Thankfully, car-booking services offered free rides to women who wish to vote. With regard to the proof of residency problem, for those women whose family card shows their name with their father or husband and the deed for the house they live in is in their father's or husband's name or their name, then there is no problem. However, for the many single, divorced, elderly women living in a house or apartment owned or rented not under their name but in the name of a brother or a son or relative, because women face difficulty renting a place under their name, then they need to provide extra documents proving their place of residency. That requirement was not announced until women went to the registration centers only to be refused. There, they were told that they need to go with all the relevant documents to the district chief to file a form and have it stamped as proof of their residency. This started a frenzy of searching for the district chief whom people usually never seek except to prove residency. Again, some women gathered the information from various sources, organized it and disseminated it. Identifying who the district chief is and where his office is located is only part of the difficulty, the other part is in finding him in his office because it is a part-time job and convincing him to stamp the form for rented places because he is only authorized to verify owned property. The other option is to verify residency through the chamber of commerce or place of work or post office. All these options were not announced beforehand, and in fact the women themselves had to think of them. Some centers accepted these alternatives; others did not. Allow me to remind you again that women need someone to drive them around. With only a few days remaining for registering voters, women are asking for an extension. They spent the three weeks running around securing the necessary documents. Also, the registration centers could have been set up to include all the forms for verification and stamping by a representative of the district, or at least the women at the center should have had all the necessary information on who, where and what to do. It was also noticed that, unlike the men's centers, the women's centers did not have computers for registering; everything is manual. One of the women was told that with her ID number it would be possible to show her address, and once registered she cannot register in another location, which would prevent fraud or multiple registration, and that is the whole purpose of verifying residency. That should be the case, and then there would be no need for all of this running around.
