RIYADH, Oct 12 (AFP) - Saudi women might be allowed to vote in future elections in the conservative Muslim kingdom but cannot take part in next year's landmark municipal ballots, an election official said Tuesday.
"I expect women to participate in elections in future stages, after conducting studies to assess whether it is useful or not," said Prince Mansur bin Muteb bin Abdul Aziz, the head of the election committee.
The municipal election, to be held in three stages from February 10 to April 21, is part of a drive to introduce limited reforms, which Riyadh insists must be tailored to Saudi specifications and not necessarily follow a Western pattern.
Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz on Sunday ruled out the participation of women in the elections, in which half the members of 178 municipal councils will be elected.
"I don't think the participation of women is on the cards," the official SPA news agency quoted him as saying.
Three Saudi women have said they intend to run in what is the first-ever nationwide ballot in the conservative oil-rich kingdom which is ruled under a strict version of Islamic law.
The text of the regulatory framework for the elections did not explicitly exclude women. It used the Arabic masculine form in referring to citizens eligible to vote, a common practice in the kingdom's legal texts.