From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sat Apr 03 2010 - 06:41:45 EST
Sudan says election to start on time despite protest
Sat Apr 3, 2010 11:07am GMT
* Opposition demands for delay dashed
* Opposition in disarray over possible boycott
KHARTOUM, April 3 (Reuters) - Sudan's elections commission on Saturday said
the first multi-party polls would go ahead on time, dashing an opposition
party's demands for a four-week delay to address complaints of
irregularities in the process.
The main candidates for the presidential elections, apart from the
opposition Umma party leader, withdrew from the race this week, saying the
vote was already "rigged" for incumbent President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to
win.
Umma head Sadeq al-Mahdi, Sudan's last democratically elected leader, listed
eight demands including a four-week delay to be agreed to before April 6, or
his party would boycott all parts of the presidential, legislative and
gubernatorial votes.
"The National Elections Commission (NEC) is working to have the elections on
the dates we specified on April 11, 12, 13," deputy head of the NEC,
Abdallah Ahmed Abdallah, told reporters after meeting U.S. envoy Scott
Gration.
"The NEC confirmed to Gration that it had completed all the necessary
procedures to have the elections on the specified dates," he added.
The Umma party leader said on Friday Gration had told him he would try to
achieve the four-week delay. He flew into Khartoum after the opposition
boycott threats.
Washington acknowledges problems with the process, but wants the polls to
happen on time, to allow work to begin on preparing for a southern
referendum on secession in January 2011.
The State Department said Gration would continue to press for maximum
participation in the polls.
On Saturday, Bashir told a campaign rally in the eastern town of Kassala
there would be no delay. Last month he threatened to expel international
observers who asked for a delay.
"They (the NEC) have given me a lot of information that gives me confidence
that the elections will start on time and that they will be as free and fair
as possible," Gration told reporters.
"This has been a difficult challenge but I believe they have stepped up and
met the challenge."
South Sudan's leading party triggered the election crisis on Wednesday by
withdrawing its presidential candidate, seen as Bashir's main competition,
and boycotting all levels of polls in Darfur because of the conflict there.
The decision by the ex-rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) threw
the opposition into disarray with little consensus arising on whether to
join the boycott and to what degree.
Bashir wants to win the elections to legitimise his rule, in defiance of an
International Criminal Court warrant for his arrest for war crimes in
Darfur, after a brutal counter-insurgency campaign begun in 2003.
The United Nations estimates 300,000 died in the humanitarian crisis sparked
by more than 2.5 million fled their homes after mostly non-Arab rebels took
up arms accusing central government of neglect. (Reporting by Opheera
McDoom)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
FACTBOX-Which parties are planning to boycott Sudan vote?
Sat Apr 3, 2010 9:26am GMT
KHARTOUM, April 3 (Reuters) - The shock decision by the main south Sudan
party to withdaw from the presidential race and boycott elections in Darfur
left the opposition in disarray and the credibility of the looming polls in
question. [ID:nLDE62U2C7] [ID:nLDE62U2DC]
After chaotic meetings, there was little consensus among the opposition
about what action to do in the presidential, legislative and gubernatorial
polls to begin on April 11, the first multi-party elections in 24 years in
the oil-producer.
Here are the positions of the main parties and what they mean.
SUDAN PEOPLE'S LIBERATION MOVEMENT (SPLM)
The ex-southern rebels signed a 2005 peace deal with incumbent President
Omar Hassan al-Bashir ending more than two decades of north-south civil war
and formed a fragile coalition national government.
They withdrew their candidate, seen as the main contender to Bashir, from
the presidential race and said they would boycott all levels of polls in the
western Darfur region because of the conflict there and widespread fraud.
They will continue to compete in all levels of polls in the south, where
they dominate government, and which will vote in a January 2011 referendum
on independence. Most analysts expect the south to secede.
The SPLM announced their decision ahead of a planned meeting with a loose
opposition alliance despite having promised them a consensus position on the
polls.
Their decision threw the already tentative opposition alliance into disarray
in Africa's largest country.
UMMA PARTY
The last democratically elected prime minister, Sadeq al-Mahdi, had said he
would withdraw from the presidential race.
But after deadlock in a meeting with much of the rank and file who refused a
boycott, the party compromised and gave the government an ultimatum.
A list of eight demands including a four-week delay to the April 11 polls
must be agreed to by April 6 or the Umma Party, one of two of the largest
opposition parties, would boycott the vote at all levels.
Bashir has said in every campaign speech for the past 10 days that he would
never accept a delay, so a full boycott by the Umma is likely.
DEMOCRATIC UNIONIST PARTY
The other main opposition party, the DUP, had until recently distanced
itself from the opposition alliance, preferring to talk to Bashir's ruling
National Congress Party (NCP). But after accusations of irregularities in
electoral procedure, it joined the alliance.
It is very divided but the party leader, Mohamed Osman al-Merghani, has
confirmed the Islamic sectarian group will withdraw from the presidential
race, but continue to compete at the parliamentary and gubernatorial levels.
(Reporting by Opheera McDoom)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
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