For the first time in Saudi Arabia, women will be able to vote and run as candidates in the upcoming municipal elections, which will be held on Dec. 12, Al-Jazeera reported.
Voter registration doesn't open until Aug. 22, but women in Mecca and Medina, where registration opened a week earlier, have signed up to vote.
This historic move comes in the heels of a 2011 royal decree by the late Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud to grant women the right to vote and run for office. This being Saudi Arabia, however, candidates will not be able to use pictures of themselves in their campaigns and separate voting booths will be available for men and women.
Arab News is predicting that approximately 70 women will run for office, while 80 will register as campaign officers.