Remember all those reforms the Saudis were implementing? Never mind. Top Saudi Prince Rules Out Elected Shura Council.

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is not yet ready to have an elected parliament because voters may pick illiterate and unqualified candidates, Defense Minister Prince Sultan said in remarks broadcast Monday.

Prince Sultan, the third most senior member of the royal family after King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah, was responding to a question on whether Riyadh could hold elections for its 120-strong consultative Shura Council, now hand-picked by the king and with a largely advisory role.

“No, because if there were elections to the Shura Council then people would emerge who cannot read or write but who have leaders and people backing them without debate,” the prince said in remarks broadcast on Saudi state television.