In a historic first, 20 women elected in Saudi Arabia local polls

The female winners stood in several areas of the Gulf country, including the capital Riyadh, the commercial city of Jeddah, the holy region of Makkah, the northern province of al-Jawf and the province of al-Ihsa in the east, the official press agency SPA reported. She was running against seven men and two women, he added. At least nine women were elected into public office in Saturday’s landmark vote, Saudi officials and media said on Sunday.

Surprisingly Saudi Arabia was not the only country where females were disenfranchised: there is yet another state in the world where women have never been able to cast a vote: Vatican City.

Al-Bar also confirmed through election officials in Saudi Arabia’s second largest city of Jiddah that another female candidate, Lama al-Suleiman, had won a seat there.

A slow expansion of women’s rights began under Salman’s predecessor Abdullah, who announced four years ago that women would take part in the 2015 municipal elections. The vote decided two-thirds of the 284 municipal councils in Saudi Arabia, while the remaining third is appointed directly by the government. “Honestly, we weren’t expecting anyone to win”, said Sahar Hassan Nasief, a women’s rights activist in Jeddah. Of the 1.5 million registered voters, only 130,000 are women. The electoral commission said Salma Bint Hizan al-Oteibi had won a seat in Mecca.

Female voters said registration was hindered by factors including bureaucratic obstacles and a lack of transport.

All though these elected female candidates represent just one person of the roughly 2100 municipal council seats but this election is a symbol of a step forward towards women empowerment in the nation.

In neighbouring Asir, also in the southwest, turnout was about 79 per cent for women and 52 per cent for men.

“I cried. This is something that we only used to see on television taking place in other countries”.

This included about 119,000 women, out of a total native Saudi population of nearly 21 million.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia boasts modern infrastructure of highways, skyscrapers and ever-more shopping malls.

Minister of municipal and rural affairs and chairman of the general committee for municipal elections Abdullateef Abdulmalik Al-Asheikh said that 702,542 citizens voted during the elections, local daily Saudi Gazette reported. But women still require permission from male family members to travel, work or marry. Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy with no elected parliament, is coming under increasing Western scrutiny owing to its human rights record.