Saudi Arabia elects Salma bint Hizab al-Oteibi as its first female councillor

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Women have been elected to municipal councils in Saudi Arabia for the first time after the country's first-ever elections open to female voters and candidates. A total of 978 women registered as candidates, they were up against nearly 6,000 men competing for places on 284 councils. About 130,000 women had registered to vote in Saturday's poll, compared with 1.35 million men.

As per election results 20 female candidates were elected to 284 municipal council seats being contested. Salma bint Hizab al-Oteibi became the first elected female politician in Saudi Arabia as a result of the election, when she won a seat on the council in Madrakah in Mecca province.

Saudi Arabian municipal elections, 2015

The 2015 election was for two thirds of the council seats, on 284 municipal councils, with both male and female candidates and voters.This was the first election in Saudi Arabia in which women were allowed to vote, the first in which they were allowed to run for office and the first in which women were elected as politicians. The previous two elections, in 2005 and 2011, were for half the council seats and were open to male candidates and voters only.