Saudi Arabia allows women to participate in municipal polls

July 23, 2014

Riyadh, Jul 23: The Council of Ministers has approved legislation that would allow Saudi women to vote and stand as candidates in upcoming municipal council elections.

Women were not allowed to participate in the 2011 elections but Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques had ordered shortly before the polls that they should be allowed to do so from the 2015 elections onwards.

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The law allows councils to approve and implement municipal plans and programs approved in the budget. They would also oversee maintenance, operating, development and investment projects, the law states.

The Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs would determine the size and make-up of councils. They should not exceed 30 members, with two-thirds elected and a third appointed by the minister.

The law gives men and women the right to stand as candidates, vote and nominate others. It grants independent, non-governmental and non-profit establishments and charities the right to observe election procedures.

These decisions were taken at the council's meeting on Monday, chaired by Crown Prince Salman.

At the beginning of the session, the council considered the details of the talks between King Abdullah and King Mohammad VI of Morocco, and his telephone conversation with Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi, Egypt's president. The council also reviewed the Crown Prince's talks with Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa, prime minister of Bahrain.

Minister of Culture and Information Abdul Aziz Khoja said the Council of Ministers reviewed several reports on international and regional developments. He slammed the Israeli government for its aggression against the Palestinians and repeated requests from the Kingdom for the international community to take action against the Zionist state.

Khoja said the Ministry of Interior has issued regulations around the Haj and Umrah, which includes a ban on non-Saudis being involved in the provision of accommodation for pilgrims. A representative of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities should be appointed to the permanent committees in Makkah and Madinah, he said.

The Council of Ministers also reviewed a report of the Minister of Finance, and approved several procedures including issuing licenses to the General Investment Fund to set up single or joint companies inside and outside the Kingdom, in the public and private sectors.

After reviewing the remarks of the Minister of Transport, the council gave Saher the authority to issue fines for drivers and vehicles at fixed and mobile weight stations and elsewhere. The council stated that the majority of Saher employees should be Saudi nationals, and committees set up should be approved by the Ministries of Interior, Transport and Finance.

The Council of Ministers, after reviewing remarks from the president of the Financial Market Authority, and recommendations of the economic council permanent committee, granted the authority the power to allow foreign financial institutions to buy and sell shares listed in the Saudi financial sector.

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News Network
March 27,2024

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At least seven people have been killed when Israeli warplanes bombed an emergency center in southern Lebanon near the border with the 1948 Israeli-occupied territories with air-to-surface missiles, according to Lebanese security sources.

Two sources, speaking on condition of anonymity said early on Wednesday that the strike targeted the Islamic Group’s emergency and relief center in Lebanon’s southern village of Habbariyeh.

Jamaa Islamiya, a Lebanese group closely linked to the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, said in a statement that “a number” of people had been killed, and called the strike a “heinous crime.”

An official from the group said “seven rescuers” were killed in the aerial assault.

Another Jamaa Islamiya official, also requesting anonymity, said a dozen medical staff were in the emergency center at the time of the strike, adding that bodies were being pulled from the rubble.

Lebanese lawmaker Hassan Mrad said “the Israeli aggression on Habbariyeh adds to the long list of Israeli crimes.”

Israel has been launching air strikes against Lebanon since the beginning of its onslaught against the Gaza Strip in early October.

An Israeli strike knocked down part of a building in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh on February 14, killing seven members of the same family, including a child, Lebanon’s official National News Agency said. A boy initially reported missing was found alive under the rubble.

In a separate Israeli attack, a woman and her two children were killed in the village of as-Sawana in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli regime launched its devastating hostilities in the Gaza Strip on October 7 after the territory’s Hamas-led Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity.

Israel's raids have resulted in retaliatory strikes from Hezbollah in support of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

The movement has vowed to keep up its retaliatory operations as long as the Tel Aviv regime continues its onslaught on Gaza.

The Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed at least 32,414 people, most of them women and children. Another 74,787 individuals have also been wounded.

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March 22,2024

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Bengaluru, Mar 22: An FIR has been registered against BJP MP Tejasvi Surya over a provocative hate post on social media, Election Commission officials said on Friday.

The move comes after a complaint filed by officials of the poll body and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) that the Bengaluru South MP, who is also the President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, had in a post apparently targeted a minority and spread enmity between two communities.

He also made a similar post on March 19 on X and YouTube which went viral. He has 1.3 million followers on X, thereby influencing the voters and disturbing the communal harmony between the communities, it further alleged.

Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered at Halasuru Gate police station on March 20 under sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 295 A (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code and the Representation of the People Act, the officials said.

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March 28,2024

Mangaluru, Mar 28: Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner Mullai Muhilan MP has warned the individuals and political parties against the poll code violations during private events. 
 
“Private events such as marriages, birthdays, housewarming ceremonies, and other non-political programmes do not require any permission. However, one should ensure that there is no violation of the model code of conduct (MCC) at these functions. Permission is needed if the events are attended by politicians or candidates,” the DC said. 

He said that these gatherings will be under the surveillance of MCC teams, as there are chances of luring voters by campaigning and supplying food, said the DC. The district has 38,386 new voters, of which, 19,619 are men.

He said that the notification of election in Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency will be issued soon, and the filing of nominations will be held between 11 am and 3 pm till April 4. 

Only five persons, including the candidate, will be allowed to enter the returning officer’s chamber to submit the nominations. A facilitation centre will be opened at the DC’s office. 

The expenditure of the candidate will be counted from the day the candidate files the nomination.

The DC said that the district is not an expenditure-sensitive constituency. Assistant expenditure observers and expenditure observers will monitor the expenditure of the candidates. An expenditure book will be provided to the candidate to record expenditure incurred, he explained.

Further, he said that no election materials can be printed without the name and address of the publishers, and the number of copies printed. Separate permission should be availed for procession prior to the submission of nomination papers from the ARO office, through the single-window system.

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