They also voiced skepticism of the government's explanation that the delay was intended to allow it to expand the electorate and study the possibility of allowing women to vote. Other observers held onto hope that the postponement of what would be only the second elections in the country's history would result in the extension of voting rights to women.

The Cabinet, led by King Abdullah, announced late Monday that the Oct. 31 vote would be put off until 2011 to allow time for a new election law. It said the current municipal councils, elected in 2005, would continue to serve in the interim. The government also said it is considering allowing women to vote _ though not run _ in the next elections.

The 2005 vote was Saudi Arabia's first since the kingdom was founded in 1932. Half the seats are elected while the rest are appointed. The councils have little power, but many jumped at the chance for even a small voice in politics and saw the elections as an indication that the conservative kingdom was ushering in a new era of reform.

No exact date was set for new elections.

"I was disappointed but not surprised," said human rights lawyer Bassem Alam in Jeddah. "People were considering these elections as though they were serious and could make a difference. But they weren't even real."

Khalid al-Dakhil, a pro-reform political scientist at King Saud University in Riyadh, said the delay was a "blow to reform" that revealed the elections are not as important an issue for the government as they are for the people.

He said that there were no indications the regime intended to move ahead with wider reforms and that the royal family might have worried that another election would prompt calls for broader change.

"If municipal elections become routine, people will ask for more," he said.

He was also suspicious of the timing of the government's announcement, coming a day after parliamentary elections in Kuwait, which leads the Gulf region in efforts to give its people a greater voice in politics.

In Sunday's election, four Kuwaitis became the first women elected to their parliament, which al-Dakhil noted "brought much fanfare in the region."

"It is one step forward in one place, one step back in another," he said.

Several other observers thought the postponement would provide an opening for women to vote and even run in the next elections.

"I see this as a good situation and it will eventually give the municipalities more freedom," said Anwar Eshki, the head of the Middle East Center for Strategic and Legal Studies in Jeddah.

Sohaila Zain el-Abideen, a Saudi women's rights activist, said that whatever was behind the government's announcement she believes women will become participants in the country's politics.

"We are seeing strides in Saudi Arabia in that direction," she said.