Democracy experts propose simplification of Sudan election system

December 11, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — Democracy Reporting International
(DRI), a group of mainly European experts, recommends that Sudan may
simplify its electoral system ahead of the planned April 2010 voting.
DRI made this conclusion in a just released report titled “Assessment
of the Electoral Framework” of Sudan.

Under the current system for Sudan’s legislative races, three ballot
types exist at each of the three levels of government — State
Assemblies, South Sudan Legislative Assembly, and National Assembly.
The three ballot types are: single member districts, party lists and
women lists.

Thus in the upcoming elections, Northerners will mark 8 ballot papers:
one for president, one for governor, three for the different selection
categories of the national assembly, and three for their respective
State Assembly. Southerners will have to mark ballots papers in those
categories in addition to four more: one for for the South’s president
and three for the selection categories to the South Sudan Legislative
Assembly.

“There are serious questions whether the electoral systems used are
too complex for a post-conflict election: The election administration
must correctly print and distribute 1,268 different types of ballots.
Voters, many of whom have never voted before, will have to mark up to
12 different ballots. A simplification of the electoral systems may be
a solution,” stated Michael Meyer, the co-coordinator of DRI.

DRI proposes that it is possible to simplify the district-by-district,
first-past-the-post system of distributing parliamentary seats, also
eliminating the ballots for party lists and women lists.

The DRI report states, “Given cumbersome electoral systems with voters
receiving up to 12 ballots, there is a serious risk the elections may
fail on logistical grounds. There is consideration of only holding
elections to executive positions while postponing those to legislative
bodies. However, that would do little to promote pluralism and would
strengthen the already powerful executive branches of government
further. A simplification of the electoral systems may be a more
appropriate solution.”

DRI says that Sudan can significantly simplify the ballot system “by
dispensing with the majoritarian component and introducing a full PR
[proportional representation] system. A voter in the north would then
have to mark four ballots, a voter in the south six ballots. The
number of ballot types would be reduced from more than 1,268 to 54.
This solution could also solve the census dispute as far as it relates
to elections and address some problems of IDP voting.”

“To maintain the women quota there could be a requirement to place
women candidates on fixed positions on party lists. The drawback of
this option would be that if elections were not held in some regions,
such as parts of Darfur, the overall results would be affected, and
voters may be unfamiliar with list-based election systems.”

The report was financed by the Kingdom of Belgium. It was researched
by an assessment team sent to Juba from May 9 – 20 and Khartoum from
August 31 – September 6. The Center for Peace and Development Studies
at the University of Juba helped to author the report.

(ST)