Elections sweep Middle East!
Via Little Green Footballs, the BBC reports on elections. In Saudi Arabia!

Voters have gone to the polls in Saudi Arabia's first nationwide municipal election, as the kingdom's government aims to bring in elements of democracy.

The first phase was held in and around the capital, Riyadh, with later rounds to be staged elsewhere over two months....

Voting was initially slow but the numbers arriving at polling stations in Riyadh and its suburbs increased as the day went on.

"This was a wonderful moment," Badr al-Faqih, a 54-year-old geography professor, told AP after casting the first ballot at one polling station. "This is a first step towards more elections."

"This is patriotic participation," he said. "I want this campaign to succeed...."

A US state department spokesman said the polls were "a sign that Saudi Arabia is not immune to the reforms sweeping the region."

Granted this is a small step, but in the past 6 months we've seen elections in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Palestinian Authority and Saudi Arabia. I think this is largely due to President George Bush's influence, and his refusal to drop the topic of Democracy. Does anyone think this would have happened if Gore had defeated Bush in 2000?
- posted by The Dutchman @ 3:38:00 PM