Some 5,324 candidates are competing for 1,056 seats — only the second elections in Saudi Arabian history — to fill half the seats in the country’s 285 councils. The other half are appointed by the government.
The first elections in the Gulf kingdom, which has a population of around 27.5 million, including around 19 million Saudis, were held in 2005, but the government extended the existing council’s term for two years.
Around 1.2 million male voters have registered to take part.
The early hours of voting appeared to attract little interest on the first day of the Saudi weekend on Thursday and Friday.
Just a few voters showed up before midday at a polling station in Al Olaya neighbourhood in central Riyadh, an AFP correspondent reported.
“The movement is slow before noon. People are still asleep because it is a day off,” said candidate Abdulwahab Al Maliki.
Voting was also slow in the country’s economic capital, the port city of Jeddah on the west coast.
The results of the vote are expected on Sunday.
Thursday’s polling comes just four days after The Custodian of the Two Holy Shrines, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, granted women the right to vote and run in the next municipal elections in four years, a historic first for the ultra-conservative country.
In addition to participating in the only public polls in the country, King Abdullah also announced he had decided to admit women to the Shura Council, an all-appointed consultative body.
