Saudi Arabia says plans to start municipal elections

Saudi Arabia plans to begin municipal elections this month, the first political concession from the conservative U.S. ally since protests sweeping the region reached the kingdom, a government website said on Wednesday.
The announcement on the website of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs did not say if women would be able to take part or give more details.
"The first phase of the elections will start on Saturday, 19/5/1432," it said, a date in the Islamic calendar that is likely to fall on April 23.
Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, held elections to half of the seats on municipal councils in 2005 for the first time over 40 years. They were held then in several stages and excluded women from voting or running as candidates.
Another round was due in 2009 but the government announced a delay of two years. The web statement said the ministry began preparing for the new elections several months ago before a final deadline for holding the votes in October.
The government is trying to stave off a wave of unrest that toppled the rulers of Egypt and Tunisia and that has spread to neighbouring Yemen, Bahrain and Oman.
King Abdullah announced a massive $93 bln in social handouts last week, including funding for the security forces and religious establishment, that analysts said aimed to mollify the population and key pillars of Saudi family rule.
But there were no political concessions: tne one acknowledgement of criticism appeared to be the creation of a new body with a large budget to fight corruption.
Minority Shi'ites have staged marches in the Eastern Province, where most of Saudi Arabia's oil fields are located, but few Sunnis in major cities answered a Facebook call for protests on March 11. They would have faced a massive security deployment on the streets if they had tried.
The clerics, who are given wide powers of control in society in a historical pact with the Saudi family, have attacked protests in Saudi Arabia as un-Islamic.
The dynasty dominates political life, political parties are banned and there is no elected parliament.