Riyadh: At least two women won municipal council seats in Saudi Arabia's first ever election open to female voters and candidates officials said Sunday.

Salma bint Hizab al-Oteibi was elected to a council in the holy city of Mecca the official SPA news agency reported citing election commission president Osama al-Bar.

She ran against seven men and two women in Saturday's ballot he added.

A second woman Hanouf bint Mufrih bin Ayid al-Hazmi was elected in the northwestern region of Jawf SPA said as fresh results were being released on Sunday afternoon.

Saudi Arabia has many restrictions on women including a ban on driving. It was the last country to allow only men to vote and polling stations were segregated during the ballot.

Among the 6440 candidates running for seats on 284 councils figured more than 900 women who had to overcame a number of obstacles to participate in the landmark poll.

Female candidates could not meet face-to-face with male voters during campaigning while neither men nor women could publish their pictures.

Women voters said registration was hindered by factors including bureaucratic obstacles and a lack of transportation.

As a result women accounted for less than 10 percent of registered voters and few female candidates were expected to be elected.

According to election commission data nearly 1.5 million people aged 18 and over were registered for the polls.

This included about 119000 women out of a total native Saudi population of almost 21 million.

At least one part of the country reported a female turnout exceeding 80 percent according to official data.

In the mountainous Baha region in the kingdom's southwest 946 women voted according to the local election commission cited by SPA.

With 1146 women registered that translated into an 82.5 percent turnout.

Baha's overall turnout for men and women combined was 51.5 percent SPA said without providing figures for other regions.

Proud happy

Female candidates expressed pride in running even if they didn't think they would win while women voters some of them tearful said they were happy at finally being able to do something they had only seen on television or in movies.

Nassima al-Sadah an activist in the eastern city of Qatif said it didn't matter whether women voted for their own sex.

"The important thing is that you need to support a good person" and to exercise the right to vote she said.

Sadah who herself voted for a man was disqualified for unknown reasons on the eve of the campaign. She has taken authorities to court over her exclusion.

Sadah said the voting process itself took place relatively smoothly unlike the registration.

Many female candidates used social media to help their cause but a handful of others including women's rights activists were disqualified from campaigning.

Saudi Arabia boasts modern infrastructure of highways skyscrapers and ever-more shopping malls. But women still require permission from male family members to travel work or marry.

Men have voted since 2005 in elections for municipal councils a third of whose seats are appointed.

AFP