IYADH, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 9 - It is not exactly a democratic revolution - the election is for only half the members of municipal councils and women may not vote. Still, Saudi Arabia embarks on its first nationwide elections on Thursday and the exercise may end up being more than symbolic.
Until now, the country's authoritarian founding dynasty, the al-Sauds, have rejected even the notion of sharing power, imprisoning and lashing those who dare carry out virtually any public protest.
So the entry of elected public figures into the government even at an extremely low level introduces an unpredictable element into the equation of how this desert kingdom is ruled.
"Despite its drawbacks," said Abdel Aziz al-Qasim, a political activist and former judge, "this is the first time that people can really participate in public life outside the mosques."
One change that is already tangible is the sheer exuberance of the newly minted candidates, who in a uniquely Saudi manner transformed this often dreary capital with its ban on bars, movie theaters or dance clubs.
With almost 100 men running for each of the seven available seats, the candidates resembled carnival barkers in their often outlandish attempts to draw potential voters into their election tents.
They slaughtered countless camels and sheep to feed the voters.
They offered all manner of religious clergy giving advice on everything from why Islam condones democracy to how to take a second wife without actually living with her.
They lighted bonfires and bounced powerful spotlights off tall city buildings.
One of the country's most prominent bankers even packed his hall by giving free lectures on the route to successful investing in the booming stock market.
"You can call this Democracy 101, but we are hoping it will lead to Democracy 106," said Ibrahim al-Nassar, a voter who was sitting underneath a gilded chandelier in a packed wedding hall, just before a poet took to the stage to sing the praises of both the nation and one particularly rich candidate.
Until the campaign season started about 12 days ago, in fact, Saudi voters - all males over 21 outside the military - appeared largely uninterested. Of the nearly 600,000 eligible in the capital region out of a population of over four million, a mere 149,000 bothered to register.
On Thursday, voters will chose 127 men for 37 councils in the greater Riyadh area. Across the country, 592 seats in 178 councils are up for grabs with separate stages in the central, eastern and western regions. The eastern area will vote in March and the final stage is in April.
But only half the council members will be elected. The other half, along with each mayor, will be appointed, insuring the royal family ultimate control over all the councils. The still vague powers of the councils include things like supervising utilities and reviewing budgets, but they lack spending powers.
That, plus the lack of any clear reform plan, helped explain early voter apathy, although registrations have reached 350,000 in the Eastern Province and have just started in the west of the country.
"There were a lot of questions, a lot of talk, but the government presented the municipal elections without any context, without explaining whether it would be part of something bigger," said Khalid al-Dakhil, an assistant professor of political sociology at King Saud University in Riyadh. "It is not clear whether this is the first step for something, and if it is, what is this something?"
Prince Mansour bin Mutaab bin Abdel Aziz, a professor of public administration at the same university who is supervising planning for the vote, says elections must be introduced gradually and will eventually be expanded, most likely to include women in the next round four years from now.
"Usually it is better to go incrementally; the issue is where you are heading," he told a news conference on Wednesday. "In the future we hope we will see other steps."
