For the first time in the monarchy’s history, women have been elected to municipal councils in Saudi Arabia.
On Sunday, a total of 19 women have been elected so far from all over the country, one day after the kingdom’s election, which allowed women to vote and run as candidates.
According to the Associated Press, out of the country’s 130,000 registered female voters, 106,000 cast ballots, in other words around 82 percent of the eligible female voters took part in the elections.
The election was held for only the two thirds of the municipal councils’ positions, which do not have national or lawmaking powers.
Riyadh, the Saudi capital, had the most female electees with four candidates wining seats.
A total of 7,000 candidates, 979 of whom were women, ran in Saturday’s ballots for a chance to win one of the country’s 2,100 municipal council seats. Only two rounds of voting have been previously held in the country in 2005 and 2011, in both of which women were banned from participating.
Saudi women face vast restrictions and must get permission from male family members to travel, work or marry and are not permitted to drive.
In 2012, late Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud announced that women would be given the right to vote and run in municipal elections for the first time in the country. He also appointed 30 women to the country’s top advisory Shura Council before his death in January this year.
