RIYADH, Feb 1 (AFP) - A Saudi official said Tuesday that elections were "not the ideal way" for the Muslim kingdom to choose its all-male consultative council.
"It is currently out of the question for members of the consultative council to be elected," its leader, Sheikh Mohammad bin Ibrahim bin Jubeir, told a cultural conference in Riyadh.
"Elections are not the ideal way in Saudi Arabia, for the time being at least, because consultative council members must be chosen in keeping with certain criteria, and elections do not guarantee respect for such criteria."
A committee of senior Saudi officials names candidates for the 80-member council, whose role is to advise the government and has no decision-making power, Sheikh Mohammad said.
Apart from the sheikh, the committee also includes the interior minister, the governor of Riyadh, an adviser to King Fahd and another to Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz, a council member who asked not to be named said.
The final choice for the council is left up to the king.
Sheikh Mohammad reiterated that women could not be appointed to the council, "out of religious and social considerations" in the Gulf state, which applies a strict version of Islam and where the sexes are segregated.
