RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — There were no public debates, few campaign posters and no scandals. Candidates did not promote their platforms or undermine their rivals on television. And they risked disqualification for speaking to journalists.

But a small minority of Saudi citizens went to the polls on Saturday for a rare exercise in democracy, or at least its closest equivalent in a country ruled by an absolute monarch and according to Shariah law.

The elections for local councils across the kingdom were the first time that women were able to participate — as both voters and candidates — and rights activists lauded the move as further expanding the role of Saudi women in public life. The rules were largely the same for candidates of both genders.

“It is very important, with all its problems,” said Hatoon al-Fassi, a Saudi professor of women’s history, who helped organize workshops for female candidates until the government told her to stop. (It said the advice gave the women an unfair advantage, she said.)