JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Candidates on a so-called "golden list" backed by conservative Muslim clerics swept the final stage of Saudi Arabia's landmark municipal elections, according to results announced Saturday.

Losing candidates immediately challenged the results of Thursday's balloting, the last of three stages of nationwide municipal elections that began in February. The results further the already strong showing of Islamists in the kingdom's tentative experiment with democracy.

"This is not democracy nor equal opportunity," said Nabil Qamlu, a Jiddah lawyer who lost to one of the candidates on the "golden list."

"Next elections I will have to grow a beard in order to get elected," he said. Beards are seen as a sign of a committed Muslim in this religious society.

Whether the results were an indication of popular support or the result of rule-bending clerical involvement, the Saudi monarchy will need to decide how much influence it will allow the Islamists to have. The government still controls the councils, appointing half their members.

Many of the losing candidates alleged the names of certain candidates were circulated on what was dubbed the "golden list" chosen by fundamentalist clerics — a move they said violated an electoral law forbidding the forming of coalitions. The winners also unfairly claimed they had religious backing, the disgruntled candidates said.

Bassam Jamil al-Khadher, one of the winners in Jiddah, a port city on the Red Sea known as one of the more liberal parts of the kingdom, denied any coordination or formal list.

However, a list of names was widely circulated on the Internet and through cell phone text messages.

"Of course, our respected scholars supported us," al-Khadher said. "We are people known for our public service. It is only natural that we will get such support. We are an Islamic country and we are Islamists."

Abdel-Rahman al-Yamani, who secured the most votes in Jiddah — nearly 12,000 of the 55,000 cast in the municipality — attributed the Islamists' success to popular support rather than an organized clerical campaign.

"We are religious people by nature and secular people are not accepted by the society," he said.

The seven winning candidates in Jiddah all appeared on the so-called "golden list." In Mecca, the birthplace of Islam, seven candidates endorsed by the clergy also won. Five of the six winners in Buraydah, capital of ultraconservative Qaseem province, had been given a clerical nod, and Islamists in the holy city of Medina had a strong showing.