Word: riyadh
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...their part, conservatives were brimming with confidence even before the results were announced. ?My friend, this is an Islamic country,? Suleiman Rashodi, a winning candidate who spent four months in prison in 1995 for militant activities, said as he relaxed at his east Riyadh home after voting. ?Liberals are far from our society. They are like the West...
Sitting forward on a powder blue chair in his ornate living room, Mohammed al Ammari makes his campaign pitch to a dozen men all clad in the traditional Saudi robe and headdress. As a member of Riyadh's city council, he vows, he would work to rebuild the capital's crumbling downtown into a modern urban hub. The setting and promise may lack pizzazz, but al Ammari jabs a forefinger into the air as he speaks, visibly thrilled to be a candidate in the Kingdom's first-ever nationwide election. Two days later, he is beaming after casting his ballot...
...Last month's election enthusiasm in Iraq didn't prove contagious, with only a quarter of eligible Saudis bothering to sign up for the vote in the greater Riyadh region, the start a three-stage election that will run through April. Nonetheless, argues Saudi commentator Jamal Khashoggi, ?the culture of democracy is being introduced into Saudi Arabia.? Al Ammari, 55, a U.S.-educated food company executive and liberal reformer, agrees. ?This election gave me the chance to raise my voice...
...After gathering with close friends to sing and dance to the warm strumming of an Oud player, Al Ammari watched the bad news on Saudi TV: he lost to an Islamic conservative opponent, part of a sweep of Riyadh's seven seats by the fundamentalists. As Al Ammari saw it going down to the wire, last week's vote was a test of support for Saudi liberals who have long been overwhelmed by conservatives loosely allied with the ruling Al Saud dynasty. A conundrum in President Bush's State of the Union call for democracy in Saudi Arabia, al Ammari...
...pollution. Al Ammari spent $30,000 from his own pocket, mainly on campaign flyers, with his sister-in-law running his election website. Other candidates parted with hundreds of thousands of dollars, appealing to voters with lavish nightly lamb-and-rice banquets under canvas tents and ubiquitous billboards on Riyadh's modern highways. With political parties banned, the candidates broke roughly into four categories: urbane liberals like al Ammari; Islamic fundamentalists like Rashodi; Saudi tribesmen and plain opportunists - real estate developers were notable among those scrambling for council posts that might give them insights into zoning plans...