It was a historic and overdue moment in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, when women were finally allowed to vote in their very first election. Though elections are historically rare (this is only the third election in Saudi Arabia’s history, and the first since 2011), the AP is reporting that results being released now show that 20 women were elected to local government seats.

The women who won hail from vastly different parts of the country, ranging from Saudi Arabia’s largest city to a small village near Islam’s holiest site.

The 20 female candidates represent just one percent of the roughly 2,100 municipal council seats up for grabs, but even limited gains are seen as a step forward for women who had previously been completely shut out of elections. Women are still not allowed to drive and are governed by guardianship laws that give men final say over aspects of their lives like marriage, travel and higher education.

The conservative capital of Riyadh saw the most women candidates win, with four elected. The Eastern Province, where minority Shiites are concentrated, saw two women elected, said Hamad Al-Omar, who heads the General Election Commission’s media council.

Saudi Arabia’s second largest and most cosmopolitan city, Jiddah, also elected two women, as did one of the most conservative regions, Qassim.

This is amazing, given the fact that the women had to run their campaigns without even getting to interact with potential voters.

Most ran their campaigns online, using social media to get the word out, due to strict gender segregation rules that ban men and women from mixing in public. This meant candidates could not directly address voters of the opposite sex.

In an effort to create a more level playing field for women who wear the traditional full-face veil, the General Election Committee banned both male and female candidates from showing their faces in promotional flyers, billboards or online. They were also not allowed to appear on television.

Still, al-Omar said the historic election drew a staggering 106,000 female voters out of some 130,000 who’d registered. Out of 1.35 million men registered, almost 600,000 cast ballots. In total, some 47 percent of registered voters took part in Saturday’s election.

The Saudi Press Agency is only reporting that four women were elected, while Al Jazeera put the number as “at least 18.”

Regardless, this is a huge step forward for women’s rights in the Saudi kingdom. Here is hoping that these 20 trailblazing women are able to make an impact and a difference to those who voted to support them.