The polls that began on Saturday are the first open to female voters, with a total of 978 women having registered as candidates alongside 5,938 men.
They are competing for places on 284 councils, whose powers are restricted to local affairs, including responsibility for streets, public gardens and rubbish collection.
About 130,000 women have registered to cast their ballots, officials said, a figure that still falls well short of male voter registration, which stands at 1.35 million.
Women also said voter registration was hindered by bureaucratic obstacles as well as a lack of public awareness of the process.
In 2012, late Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud announced that women would be given the right to vote and run in municipal elections for the first time in the country. He also appointed 30 women to the country’s top advisory Shura Council before his death in January this year.
