Women win new seats on Oman municipal councils

Twenty-three women were selected to stand among the 731 candidates  at Oman's local councils.

Voters across the country went to the polls on Sunday to choose 202 councillors for 11 municipalities, including the capital Muscat.

Seven won seats on local councils -three more than in the previous election.

Councillors, who serve for four years, have limited powers as authorities designate the chairmen and deputy chairmen for the municipalities, and not from those elected.

The interior ministry said that 39.85 percent of the 623,224 registered voters cast their ballots in the election.

In 1994, Oman became the first Gulf monarchy to give the vote to women and in 2011 Sultan Qaboos, who has ruled for more than 40 decades, decreed that elections be held for municipal councils.

The Gulf state has made tentative steps in recent years towards reform, although political parties remain banned.

Oman has a population of 4.5 million, 46 percent of whom are foreigners.

At the national level, Oman has a consultative council with limited powers, the 85-member Majlis al-Shura.

In 2011, Qaboos slightly expanded the powers of the Majlis al-Shura after unprecedented social unrest when the normally quiet nation became caught up in protests which swept across the Arab world.