170 SPLM candidates reject party nominations for N. Bahr el Ghazal

By Ngor Arol Garang

January 12, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – Just a day following an announcement made by Northern Bahr el Ghazal State SPLM Electoral College naming 73 candidates for various parliamentary seats, a group of 170 other aspiring candidates rejected the decision, accusing incumbent governor Paul Malong Awan Anei of having controlled the selection process to his likings.

The 170 aspiring candidates in Aweil, Juba and Khartoum are seeking to run on the SPLM ticket. The group questioned the integrity of the electoral committee pointing fingers at some members within it for having selected family members and relatives while disregarding all required standard criteria for selection.

In the release, obtained by Sudan Tribune, the 170 candidates collectively charged the incumbent governor and Electoral College with eight errors or transgressions in the selection process. The letter was addressed to President of the Government of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit, who wears another hat as chairman of the party.

“We utterly reject the selection process and the names selected by the College, which contradicted the guidelines of selection issued by the Political Bureau in December 2009,” the release argued.

It further stated that the State Electoral College was formed to the liking of the governor, insofar as it included some of his bodyguards, security agents, advisers and members of his inner circle. They also accused the governor and nominations committee of having hidden the addendum issued by the party on 31 Dec. 2009 till it was made public on last the day for submission of applications.

It went on to mention that the committee violated SPLM Candidate Selection Guidelines 2009, Section 7 in announcing their perceived eligible candidates. For example instead of announcing two candidates per geographical consistency they presented only one candidate.

They quoted the State Electoral College demand that required an aspiring candidate to appear physically in front of them for collection and submission of his/her application. In violation of this, at the announcement of the results it appeared that some candidates were selected without being physically present in Aweil town during the whole processes of selection.

Good examples are the cases of Hon. William Ajal Deng currently in Khartoum but who was selected because his serves as deputy governor to the incumbent governor. Another example was the selection of Mrs. Ajok Wol, wife to the incumbent governor, as a candidate for the National Assembly, despite reportedly being absent during the whole processes.

With regard to this principle of being present for the nominee application, the party had allowed only exemptions for members of the National Assembly because they did not have a chance to go to their constituencies owing to parliamentary debates on referendum bills and other debates during the selection processes.

Aspiring SPLM candidates also reported having learned that some prominent members of the party were denied rights to compete in the gubernatorial contest because the Electoral College is said to have received directives from Salva Kiir Mayardit, the Chairperson of the Party, not to allow them contest the chair.

They also said some selected candidates on the released nomination lists do not satisfy the literacy criterion provided by the National Elections Commission selection guidelines hence fear chances of becoming venerable to challenges by other parties’ candidates. The group further argued that several candidates were excluded from the selection because of their perceived support to the governor’s main adversary in these coming elections. Others were said to be victims of personal grudges with the governor.

The governor, they said, has persistently demonstrated “ill intentions” against some sitting members at South Sudan Legislative Assembly, the National Assembly and in Aweil. This prompted their exclusion from a fair and just competition for their former seats.

With regard honesty of the committee, the group were convinced that the governor and his electoral college were not neutral in the manner because several members of the committee, such as Mr. Manut Yel Lual, brought in his wife Angelina Adut Mel to replace a sitting SSLA member, Mrs. Abour Gordon Nhial on the women’s ticket.

The aspiring members from NBGS expressed readiness to contest the forthcoming general elections in the constituencies either as members of the SPLM or independent candidates. “We believe that this is the greatest and fairest approach to winning the constituencies in favor of the SPLM,” they stated.

The letter was copied to the Chairman of the Election Committee, James Wani Igga; Secretary General of the SPLM Pagan Amum; Deputy Secretary General for Southern Sector, Dr. Anne Itto; members of the SPLM Political Bureau; the Governor and NBGS Electoral College.

(ST)