A local vote where Saudi Arabian women participated is still a long way from democracy

Votes continue to be counted in Saudi Arabia’s municipal elections, in which women were allowed for the first time to cast ballots. According to official figures, 130,000 women registered to vote in Saturday’s poll, compared with 1.35 million men. Back in 2011, the late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud announced that Saudi women would be allowed…