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Saudi Arabia is going to the polls in unprecedented municipal elections in which women can cast a ballot for the first time, the BBC reported.

Women are also standing as candidates, another first, despite the conservative kingdom being the only nation where women are not allowed to drive.

A total of 978 women have registered as candidates, alongside 5,938 men.

Female candidates have had to speak behind a partition during campaign appearances or be represented by a man.

About 130,000 women have registered to vote, officials say. That figure still falls well short of male voter registration, which stands at 1.35 million.

Salma al-Rashed was the first woman to register to vote. "It felt really good," she told the BBC. "Change is a big word but the election is the way to make sure we are really represented."