Islamists sweep to victory in Saudi elections

Islamist candidates triumphed in the final round of Saudi Arabia's first local elections.

Yesterday's results showed the religious scholars stamping their authority on the kingdom's fledgling reforms.

Candidates endorsed by the scholars clinched all seven seats on offer in the country's commercial capital of Jeddah,

The Islamists' widely anticipated win followed similar victories in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah after Saudi men voted on Thursday to elect half the members of municipal councils in an unprecedented national ballot in the country.

Several western and northern regions were covered in Thursday's final round. Women were barred from the three-stage polls which began in February.

The Jeddah winners - Bassam Akhdar, Bassem Al Shareef, Hassan Al Zahrani, Rabah Al Daheri, Hussain Baakeel, Hussain Al Bar and Abdul Rahman Yamani - ran separately in each of the Red Sea city's seven constituencies but were backed as a group by influential Sunni clerics, including Shaikh Safar Al Hawali.

The seven, dubbed the "golden list," survived an attempt by rivals to disqualify them from running after experts ruling on election disputes concluded that they had not violated rules barring the formation of electoral lists.

Losing candidates now have a week to challenge the results.

"We don't care about gold lists, silver lists or bronze lists," election official Abdullah Al Subail said. "What concerns us is the view of the voter."

Al Subail said it was wrong to label the victorious candidates as Islamists because "we are all Muslims, there is no question of Muslims and non-Muslims".

Despite the limited powers the councils are expected to wield, the elections still mark a significant milestone by giving Saudis a choice of their representatives and a platform during the campaign to air at least some local grievances.

"They have created a channel through which people can express themselves," said one diplomat.

"And the councils will be dealing with issues which affect people's daily lives."

Islamists backed by clerics also came out on top in the capital Riyadh and the main eastern city of Dammam in earlier phases of the polls and in the resort of Taef near Jeddah in the third round.

But they did less well in Al Qasim, a region some 320km north of Riyadh which is seen as the heartland of the rigorous Wahhabi doctrine of Islam dominant in Saudi Arabia.

Islamists managed to win just two of six seats up for grabs in the regional capital Buraida and two out of five in nearby Unaiza, with businessmen and civil servants winning the remaining seats.

Islamists also took half of the six available seats in the northwestern city of Tabuk. The Islamists' wins have been at least partly attributed to good organisation.

The winners can be considered "moderate Islamists or technocrats with Islamist leanings," reformist lawyer Abdul Aziz Al Kassem said.

"There is no doubt that those who won had organisational skills, most of them having studied in the West," he said.