“I understand the logistical problem but still we are very depressed that we have not been allowed to vote, this is our right,” stated Iman Qahtani, a female Saudia Arabian journalist, speaking about the first quasi-democratic municipal elections in Saudi Arabia, in which women were banned from voting.
    
Despite the fact that women comprise over half of the population in Saudi Arabia, and despite the fact that the election rules assert that all citizens who are 21 or older, with exception of military personnel, may vote, Saudi women were disenfranchised by a technicality. Voters must have an identification card to register to vote, but only six percent of women requested the necessary ID cards. Citing the impossibility of giving ID cards to all women ahead of the vote, election officials simply banned all women from voting.  

Although women remain disenfranchised, this is the first time men are voting in something that even remotely resembles a democratic system. Saudi Arabian men are currently actually only voting for half of the seats on the municipal council; the other half will be appointed, and the monarchy, which is effectively headed by the crown prince Prince Abdullah Bin-Abd-al-Aziz Al Saud, is still the ultimate power in the kingdom.

The final results will probably not be released until the weekend, but candidates who have Islamist support are projected to win the largest number of seats.

Mimi Hanaoka