On 12th December, today, Municipal Elections have begun in Saudi Arabia and Women are allowed to cast their votes for the first time in the history of the country.
Apart from voting, Women are also allowed to contest in the conservative kingdom which still is the only nation in the world where Women are not allowed to drive. A total of 978 Women are contesting in the elections alongside 5,938 men. During campaigning, Women contestants were restricted to speak from behind a partition or be represented by a man.
The decision to allow Women to participate in election was taken by late King Abdullah. As many as 130,000 Women have registered to vote whereas the male voter registration stands at 1.35 million. The result of the election is expected to be announced later today.
For the record, elections are a rare thing in Saudi Arabia. Today is only the third time in history of the nation that Saudi people have gone for polls. Interestingly, there were no elections from 1965 to 2005.