Elections were held in Saudi Arabia on 12 December 2015 for municipal councils, which have limited decision-making powers on local issues such as rubbish collection and street maintenance.

[1][2][3] The previous two elections, in 2005 and 2011, were for half the council seats and were open to male candidates and voters only.

Half the seats in municipal councils in Saudi Arabia were chosen in men-only elections in 2005 and 2011.

Loujain al-Hathloul, who had been detained for two months after driving from the United Arab Emirates to Saudi Arabia in December 2015, was disqualified; Nassima al-Sadah, a Shia human rights activist from Qatif, was also disqualified.

At men's campaign meetings, they had to either speak from behind a partition, or have a man read their speech on their behalf.

[21] In results released to the Associated Press on 13 December, 20 female candidates were elected to the approximately 2,100 municipal council seats being contested.