The Miss Universe Organization ‘is currently undergoing a rigorous vetting process qualifying a potential candidate to be awarded the Saudi Arabia franchise’, Maria Jose Unda, the organisation’s coordinator of international relations, said in a statement to AFP.
“We’ll have a decision on the National Director for Saudi Arabia very, very soon,” she said, noting it was ‘possible’ for Saudi Arabia to have a contestant in place before the next edition of the competition, scheduled for September in Mexico.
The statement came after Saudi model Rumy al-Qahtani created a buzz online in late March when she posted to her hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers that she was ‘honoured’ to represent Saudi Arabia at Miss Universe at the upcoming event.
The post included pictures of Rumy al-Qahtani, a 27-year-old native of Riyadh, in a sequined dress holding the green Saudi flag inscribed with the shahada, or Islamic creed.
