Dr. Jehan Felemban and Dina Madani went to Sudan on April 7 as part of an Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) monitoring team, becoming the first Saudi citizens to be sent abroad to observe an election.

Maha Akeel, managing editor of the OIC Journal, said each OIC department allocated one of its members to monitor the key election and the two young Saudi women were nominated.

“We attended preparations for the election and went through the backstage groundwork. It was quite delightful and we learned a lot,” said Madani, an officer at the OIC’s Muslim Minority Community Department.

Felemban, an officer at the OIC’s Department for Political Affairs, said: “We have only been working at the OIC for a few months now, and it was pleasant for the OIC to appoint Saudi women, something that proves we are good enough for work like this and more.”

“Everything went smooth and according to plan. The Sudanese are a very educated and organized people. We didn’t have problems with the people as much as the technical system,” she added.

Madani said she was "very happy with this remarkable experience" and looks forward to monitoring another election elsewhere.

Sudanese President Omar Bashir has promised that the country’s first multiparty elections in over two decades will be “free and fair.”