Gotta love the sheer gall of the Saudi royals, who will not even tolerate window-dressing elections for an "advisory" council:
A senior Saudi royal ruled out direct elections to Saudi Arabia's unelected parliament in published comments, days after King Abdullah appeared to hold open the possibility.
Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy closely allied with the United States, held elections for half the members of its municipal councils in 2005, and reformers now hope for elections to the Majlis al-Shura, or Consultative Council, to follow other Persian Gulf nations.
"When I go to the Shura assembly, I meet members who are of the finest caliber in the country, and that's what's important -- the people and quality. It's not important how they got there, it's important how they are," Interior Minister Prince Nayef said.
Well this is a wonderful development: the status of Saudi officials will be determined by their performance, not "how they got there." If that is the new standard, then Prince Nayef and the other Saud clan members (who "got" their royal positions thanks to their grandparents' military triumph and lots of nepotism) will not be in office for long.
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