Women in Saudi Arabia have cast their votes for the first time in the country’s history for municipal elections.
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The official Saudi Press Agency quoted the head of the election committee in the northern region of al-Jawf as saying that female candidate Hinuwf al-Hazmi won along with 13 men in that district.
The Islamist monarchy, where woman are banned from driving and must cover themselves from head to toe in public, was the last country in the world where only men were allowed to vote.
Many women expressed their happiness for being allowed to vote and said they are liking the new change.
Female candidates were also not allowed to address male voters directly during campaigning.
Female voters said registration was hindered by factors including bureaucratic obstacles and a lack of transport.
As a result, women accounted for less than 10 percent of registered voters and few female candidates were expected to be elected.
A total of 978 women registered as candidates, alongside 5,938 men.
Excellent landmark, but women in Saudi Arabia have a long way to go yet.
“The important thing is that you need to support a good person”, and to exercise the right to vote, she said.
However, the election was for only two thirds of seats in municipal councils that have no lawmaking or national powers, and follows men-only polls in 2005 and 2011.
Oil-rich Saudi Arabia boasts modern infrastructure of highways, skyscrapers and ever-more shopping malls. The new voting freedom was a departure in a country where women must obtain permission from male relatives to marry, attend higher education or travel overseas.
Only 1.48 million Saudis from a population of 20 million registered to vote in the election, including 131,000 women, the widespread apathy partly the product of a poll with no political parties, strict laws on campaigning, and in which only local issues are at play.
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Ruled by the al-Saud family of King Salman, Saudi Arabia has no elected legislature and faces Western scrutiny of its rights record.
