Little enthusiasm on show for rare Saudi vote

Saudi Arabian men voted in only the second nation-wide election in the country's history on Thursday, but nearly empty polling booths in the second city, Jeddah, showed few were enthusiastic about voting for municipal councils with little power.
In a year when demands for democracy rocked other major Arab nations, only 1.08 million Saudi men even registered to vote in elections to choose just half the members of municipal councils. There are 18 million Saudi nationals, but political parties are banned, campaigning is strictly controlled and women will not be allowed to vote until the next poll in four years.
"It doesn't seem as if there is enthusiasm about it this time around," said Khalid al-Dakhil, a newspaper columnist in the capital Riyadh. "Last time people talked about the elections everywhere. In their text messages, in their meetings, in phone conversations and newspapers everywhere. This time youu don't have that atmosphere. In the first Saudi municipal elections in 2005, turnout was around 50 percent and candidates used lavish hospitality to attract voters.