From: wolda002@umn.edu
Date: Fri May 14 2010 - 04:33:58 EDT
Nigeria: What Country Should Copy From Sudanese Elections -
Amb Dahiru
Jibrin Abubakar
10 May 2010
interview
Ambassador Suleiman Dahiru was Nigeria's Ambassador to Sudan between 2005
and 2007. Recently, he was in the Sudan again, but this time as an election
observer of the African Union. In this interview, he says the country is
emerging a new democratic culture and that the recent polls attested to
that. He says the world can better appreciate Sudan's effort in conducting
elections if it judged the country by its own standard. Nigeria he says can
learn to conduct a hitch-free election from Sudan.
You were in the Sudan recently as an election observer. Can you share your
experience with us?
I went together with some officials to monitor elections in the Sudan on
the platform of the African Union. We got to Khartoum on the 5th of April.
We had our orientation programme in Khartoum. We were then deployed to
various parts of Sudan to observe and not to monitor the elections.
What is the difference between observing and monitoring elections?
The difference between observing and monitoring elections is that when you
are observing, you just observe what is going on; you don't submit a report
based on what you have seen. But monitors are actually empowered to make
sure everything goes fine. They can report base on what they have seen.
They can take remedial action based on what they have monitored to be
wrong.
We were observers. So after the orientation programme, I was deployed to
the Southern Sudan. I was in Juba, the capital of the semi autonomous
southern government of the country.
The semi autonomous southern government is based on the comprehensive
agreement they signed in 2005. The South is supposed to be run as a semi
autonomous so that they have a regional president and national vice
president.
The president of Southern Sudan, who has a Vice President, is also the vice
president for the whole country. It is not yet a country. The only time the
Southern Sudan can become a country is if by next year a referendum is held
that they want to break away from Sudan, they may decide what name they
want to give to their country; and that ends it.
What do the recent elections mean to the Sudan?
It was a presidential election, regional election ad parliamentary
election. There are many political parties but some of them decided to
boycott the elections because they feel that the National Congress Party
(NCP), which is the ruling party in the country would have concluded plans
to rig the election, and therefore they didn't see why they should
participate and legitimise the election, in their own view, was a
fraudulent.
How was the conduct of the election in Juba, where you observed?
I visited many polling stations and did not see any intimidations of
voters. At each polling centre I visited, the agent of the political
parties and the police who were not armed and were also there to observe.
The police sat down quietly looking at what was going on.
The only problem area was that many people didn't find their names on the
voters' lists where they registered.
They would be directed to another place and may be lucky or not to find
their names. Those who could not found their names couldn't vote. On a
general note, my impression was that the election was free and fair because
there was no intimidation.
There have been reports that the election was a cover-up or face saving
strategy to give legitimacy to Umar Al-Bashir government given the fact
that he has been indicted of war crimes and that he is a wanted man?
No. The election was not conducted to blunt the indictment of Al-Bashir.
This election was part of the agreement in the comprehensive peace
agreement that was signed in 2005 in Kenya that there will be a
presidential, regional ad parliamentary election in sates. It was part of
the fulfilment of some aspects of the comprehensive peace agreement.
But there have been reports that the election was not properly conducted?
Regarding the allegation that election was not properly conducted, what I
can say is that some time the west judges the third world by their
standard. And when you want to compare the third world where the literacy
level is low and where the poverty ratio is high, with the western
societies, you will making mistakes.
If there are irregularities, the irregularities in my own view were not
sufficient enough to discredit the elections. I have observed some lapses
in the polling stations that I visited but I did not think, as a person,
there was anything that took place that was so bad as to discredit the
election.
What about the turnout?
The turnout was ok. The election was spread over three days; but later they
added two more days to give people the opportunity to vote. Generally
speaking, not less than 60 per cent of the registered voters voted. I can
also tell you that anybody that was born around 25 years ago does not know
anything called election under party politics because that was the last
time elections based on parties took place. If you go to the South, they
never witnessed election. The president of the southern Sudan never voted
in his life because of the civil war that was going on.
Does the constitution of Sudan recognise term limit for the president and
other political office holders?
That of Al-Bashir is a different kettle of fish. He came to power in 1989
via a military coup, and he remains ever since as head of state and as
president.
And later on he created a parliament whose members are not popularly
elected but nominated. So you have a functioning parliament that was not
popularly elected until now. Then you have Al-Bashir that is always wining
elections because he is a member of the National Congress Party, the ruling
party. Last year, he dropped his uniform and became a full-blooded
civilian. Now he is a civilian president. I doubt if the constitution has a
limitation for the president. As long as he is fit, he can continue to run
unless his party removes him.
In conducting elections, how would you want to compare Nigeria and Sudan?
As I said when I observed elections in the capital of the Southern Sudan,
the police were all there but they never interfered with the elections. In
fact they were not armed. They stayed away and there was no trouble. This
is unlike what I have seen here in Nigeria. At least what I have seen in
the TV. The way the police were mobilise in Nigeria and their presence is
enough to intimidate anybody.
It means if the Sudan can organise elections without armed police, I don't
think it is good in a civic society when you are organising democratic
elections then you start mobilising police the way we mobilise here in
Nigeria.
Of course there were accusations of intimidations here and there, but as I
said I didn't witnessed that. You see some time elections are rigged before
the voting day. But as I said I didn't see anything that was so bad as to
discredit the election.
How would you gauge the popularity of President Umar Al-Bashir in the Sudan?
Al-Bashir appears reasonably popular in the North. In the South and in
Darfur, he may not. It is difficult for somebody from nowhere to come and
defeat a sitting president with all the power of incumbency.
Even if a leader wants a clean election, some of his associates may not
want it. And you have people committing atrocities in the name of a leader
and the leader may not know. But then his name was used. This election
cannot be a yardstick for judging the popularity of Al-Bashir.
What should Sudan do to improve on their electioneering path?
You see until the members of the armed forces are insulated from party
politics, you may not have a perfect election, if there is a perfect
election at all in the world.
Members of the armed forces, police and the judiciary are also members of
the National Congress Party, the Al-Bashir party. So in a situation of this
nature, it is difficult to get a 'perfect election'.
So you have to get a constitutional change for the armed forces to be
completely insulated from partisan politics.
But I think Sudan did reasonably well. I think there is a need for massive
political education for them to know what and what is expected of them.
Secondly, the electoral official should be properly trained and given their
dues because in Juba, they were complaining of not being paid.
The electoral officials I spoke to in Juba said they have not been paid at
all. The voters' registers should always be updated. In terms of rating, I
think it deserves a pass mark. Election should not be seen as a do or die
affair.
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