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First Saudi elections open to women kick off

Xinhua, December 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

Voting in Saudi Arabia's first elections open to women kicked off on Saturday.

More than 1.4 million people are eligible to vote, including 130,637 females who will be allowed to contest and cast ballots in the third municipal poll.

Sources confirmed to Al Eqtisadiya news website that the turnout will not exceed 60 percent.

As many as 6,917 candidates are running in the election, including 979 females.

The vote that started at 8:00 in the morning local time (5:00 GMT) will continue until 17:00 (14:00 GMT).

There are 343 constituencies distributed all over the Saudi districts for citizens above 18 years.

In 2005, the election for half of the municipal councilors was held, with men voting for male candidates.

In February 2009, it was announced that municipal elections would be postponed indefinitely "for evaluation." The vote was scheduled to take place in 2011, but it was delayed until this year.

Saudi Arabia has no elected parliament, but an appointed consultative council, whose members could propose legislations with no powers to draft or approve laws. Endit