Kate Linthicum



Saudi women went to the polls for the first time Saturday in a historic election hailed by many as an important step toward greater gender equality in the famously conservative and segregated kingdom.

Mai Sharif, 32, was the first woman to cast a vote at a women's only polling center in downtown Riyadh. When she dropped her ballot into the box just after 8 a.m. Saturday, election volunteers erupted in applause and cheers.

"We have been waiting so long," Sharif said, beaming.

Voters are choosing representatives for 284 local municipal councils, bodies that have few legislative powers but which oversee a range of local issues, including budgets for maintaining and improving public facilities.

Saturday was the first time women could compete as candidates for the councils. According to Saudi election officials, nearly 1,000 women and 7,000 men are vying for council seats.

Saturday's voting ends Saudi Arabia's distinction as the last country in the world to bar women from elections, except for Vatican City, where male cardinals elect the pope.

In this conservative country ruled by a strict form of Islam, women are still barred from driving and from traveling abroad without the permission of male relatives. They are expected to wear veils and long black cloaks in public -- or face repercussions from the religious police.

But things have been changing for women in recent years, if at a glacial place compared to much of the rest of the world.

After the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, the late King Abdullah said women should be included in municipal elections. It was one of several gestures Abdullah made toward female equality before his death in January. He also appointed women to a national advisory body and allowed them to practice law and work as sales clerks in clothing and lingerie shops.

The election changes took effect this year. According to officials, more than 130,000 women registered to vote in the election, along with more than one million men.

Although local council members do not have much power in a country where the King and his appointees still make most major decisions, many women viewed the elections as an important opportunity to be heard in a place where they often aren't.

Sharif said she was thrilled to vote for a woman, and said all her family members, including her brothers, were excited to do the same. "Even my grandma wanted to come but she couldn't because she's in a wheelchair," Sharif said.

As voting got off to a start Saturday, there was some confusion at women's polling places about how exactly the process works.

Candidate Amal Badredin Alsnari arrived at the King Salman Social Center long before it opened at 8 a.m., clutching her ID card in hand.

At first there was confusion among volunteers about whether it was permissible for a candidate to vote for herself. After a phone call to election officials, they determined it was.

But then they had a problem finding Alsnari's name on the list of registered voters. It turns out she was supposed to be at a different polling station several blocks away.

She called her driver -- after all women are not allowed to drive here or walk in the street alone -- and he ferried her to the other location.

Alsnari said she had hardly slept the night before. Friends called her late into the night asking about the protocols for voting. "They wanted to know where to go, what to bring," she said.

She hoped her platform would appeal to voters. She has proposed opening community centers with daycare for children, in part to relieve the burden on women.

After finally casting her ballot, she felt relief. Now there was nothing she could do but wait for the results.

Saudi officials say they will announce the election results Sunday.