Mixed reactions over sudden pull out of SPLM candidate
By Julius N. Uma
April 1, 2010 (JUBA) — It first sounded like a fool’s day gimmick, but the April 1, the sudden withdrawal of the leading challenger in Sudan’s forthcoming presidential election not only raised several eyebrows, but also narrowed chances of a free, fair and transparent contest.
According to Arman, his party [the SPLM], would still participate in the parliamentary and local elections across the country, except for Darfur, the area where an estimated 300,000 people are believed to have died and nearly 2.5 million displaced from the conflict, which started in February 2003.
MIXED REACTIONS OVER SPLM DECISION
“I cannot believe what this. The SPLM has finally handed over power to NCP and now that hope of self-determination in 2011 has began fading. This elections have lost meaning,” a business man, with Yasir Arman’s photos all over his premises told Sudan Tribune yesterday.
Several people, majority of them expressing ignorance about the likely outcomes of this decision by the ruling SPLM, gathered in small groups and held discussions on the anticipated aftermath of this development.
“We anticipated this and lack of transparency within the SPLM political bureau will forever haunt them in their undemocratic quest for good leaders. This is what happened even during the selection of candidates for the various seats,” Mr. John Makuach, a self-proclaimed leader of a small discussion group told Sudan Tribune yesterday.
Nearly a week ago, several human rights groups, notably Human Rights Watch and Sudan Human Rights Organizations, complained that the election preparations were being marred by intimidation and torture of opponents, citing the Government of National Unity and their South Sudan counterparts as culprits.
Meanwhile in a joint statement issued in Washington on Wednesday, Britain and Norway said they were “deeply concerned by reports of continued administrative and logistical (electoral) challenges, as well as restrictions on political freedoms”.
But they said “irrespective of the outcome of elections”, it was essential the January 2011 referendum go ahead on time.
ELECTION MILESTONES
Sudan is scheduled to hold general elections, its first in 25 years to be held in both north and south, from April 11 to 18. The elections are as a key milestone in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the accord that ended nearly three decades of a bloody civil war between the north and south of the country.
During this historic election, however, voters will cast ballots for the President of Sudan, the National Assembly, President of the government of Southern Sudan, Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly, and governors and assemblies for the 25 states of Sudan (Southern Kordofan state, on the north-south border, will hold only national-level elections). In the north, voters will cast eight separate ballots, and in the south, voters will cast 12 separate ballots.
Hitherto, a total of 26 political parties, including the two ruling parties, the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement (SPLM) have adopted the Sudan Electoral Code of Conduct prepared by the African Union High Level Panel on Sudan. This code commits the parties to common principles for free and fair elections.
Under the code, however, parties undertake to abide by electoral laws, promote a fair electoral contest, and to refrain from all forms of violence and obstruction of other contestants.
According to the electoral code, parties in government must also ensure that they do not use their access to official resources, including the state media, to obtain unfair electoral advantage for themselves or any other parties or to obstruct other parties. The code is designed to complement Sudan’s national electoral laws and the work of the Sudanese government National Election Commission (NEC).
(ST)
Dinka Boy
Mixed reactions over sudden pull out of SPLM candidate
Withdrawing from April election is a foolish decision. And i agree that there are lots of stupid leaders without leadership style that are completely making amess at the last minutes with our belove country-South Sudan.
It unwise decision because should have taken place before.
I want to encourage SPLM that 2011 is not ahand free, let me warn our leaders that way.
Wow! we are truely crying for Dr John Garang for his unexpected death. Now, ther would be no fooling of decisions like this.
Now, SPLM violate CPA!
Greater Equatoria
Mixed reactions over sudden pull out of SPLM candidate
Please SPLM,if you want to be credible,postpone participating from all the levels of elections,for people to at least feel that you have given one reason for your pull away from the elections,though most will not believe. If SPLM believes that these elections are going to be rigged why does SPLM participate in the parliamentary elections in Khartoum yet they are managed by the same NCP? Are you not contradicting yourselves,SPLM? how sure do you believe that that its only the presidential elections that will be rigged while the parliamentary elections will not be rigged?
Wad Juba
Mixed reactions over sudden pull out of SPLM candidate
Man! This is a rep. The politricking between the two governing parties(NCP and its partner in crime, the SPLM) is a deliberate move to pave the way for Al Bashir to win the pre-rigged presidential race, my problem is that, its always the common man on the Streets, Villages, Towns and Cities of our country that is left confused and with no sense of direction.
The other thing, that buggs me, is why was money and time wasted for Mr. Arman’s campaign if it was already known by both (guilty) parties that a secret deal had been reached between them…..huh! or was Mr. Arman just an actor? I wonder who is the director of the comic show.
Outta here.
Time1
Mixed reactions over sudden pull out of SPLM candidate
This is the right decision taken by the SPLM to protect the CPA and makes sure the elections is genuine and not endorsed through irregularities, also Darfur people had officials asked the SPLM not to participate as they thought it was not in their interests, then of course you have the weak and divided opposiiton in the north you have failed to organised themselves and hoping to have a free ride on the backs of other political parties.
The northern opposition should nominate someone who they think can really get support, SPLM took this decision in the best interests of the CPA and also to prevent rigging from happening in the elections.
Those who are not ready for elections should withdraw, also if SPLM pull its candidate for the presidency this does not mean the elections is over, of course there are many other Sudanese candidates who still want to make their voices heard through the ballot box.
This is a clear lesson to be observed during any other elections after this one, parties have to be prepared or just pull out, all parties have their interets and also the interests of peace in Sudan and also a free and fair elections, this mvoe is to push for a more free and fair elections on April 11th.
people should not worry, there is alot of good things will come after this. wether in the north or in the south, there interests is fully protected.
However, SPLM will contest this elections allover south sudan and allover north Sudan for the constituencies and all governorship elections, also south sudan president is ready to take on Lam Akol from SPLM-DC in south sudan presidency elections, so voters in the south and north should all be ready and on standby, lets wait for April 11th to pick the right candidates for parliament, governors and south sudan president, so that more developments will continues.
James John
Mixed reactions over sudden pull out of SPLM candidate
Kiir is the last damn people in the world………don’t vote for Kiir……Kiir doesn’t kno anything my people…..
Gatwech
Mixed reactions over sudden pull out of SPLM candidate
Dear readers,
The strategy to withdraw Yasser Arman is double edged sword which denies legitimacy to Bashir and saves referendum for the South.
Those southerners who cry for the hyena (communist unionist) Yasser Arman simply do not know what their priority is in struggle for over 50 years. What we want is independence not cheap elections that can destroy the referendum.
Elections to Bashir is about life and death as referendum is about life and death for southerners.
Give Caeser what belongs to Caeser and God what belongs to God. That is NCP for re-election and SPLM for referendum of the South.
The SPLM strategy to withdraw Yasser Arman was one of the best to salvage the CPA and defuse the building up of tensions between SPLM and NCP.
Bashir needs re-election for the next seven months to referendum as the father of the CPA and he desperately also needs it in order to use it against the ICC.
Denying him re-election would make him go mad and destroy the referendum in the middle of the river. Let the strategists in the SPLM row the boat to the shore and see what Bashir will say in December, not now in April, when referendum is still eight months away.
Let us deal with the devil we know and also known by the whole world. He signed the CPA and should continue to be responsible for the conduct of referendum. It should be hijacked by traditional hyenas like Sadiq Al-Mahdi or unionist Yasser Arman.
And by the way, Yasser Arman was convinced that he would NEVER win the elections even if he participated. So why continue to waste resources with useless campaigns?
Gatwech
Mixed reactions over sudden pull out of SPLM candidate
Dear readers,
While Yasser Arman is out, another communist unionist boy has disappeared for good and could not be heard. His name is Pagan Amum and SPLM SG. This twin communist unionist boy to Yasser Arman has been pushing for a way to destroy the referendum, I guess, through complications in elections. The SPLM nationalist and separatists have detected them and zipped their mouths.
Pagan, where are you? You used to make noises every now and then, what has happened now?
You communists and unionists should understand that the priority of southerners for the next remaining eight months is to get their independence and not the cheap and fake elections for Khartoum Palace.
We need Bashir, the devil we know and known by the whole world and with ICC in his pursuit, to get re-elected and continue to shoulder the responsibility of the CPA he signed until the referendum is conducted.
If he violates it, then he will remain a visible enemy to the whole South and the world unlike Yasser Arman who can confuse the situation by dividing the SPLM in the South and even the international community on the issue of independence.
The SPLM-led government in the South would also find it difficult to mobilize international support against their own, Yasser Arman, who would suddenly turn Hitler and stop the South from separating.
The priority to the South is referendum and NOT fake elections which can bring choas and destroy the referendum while we are still in the middle of the river. Let us get to the shore…….
Southerners should stop crying for another Jellaba, Yasser Arman, as their would be representative (President) in the Khartoum Palace while they remain second class citizens. When will a southerner become President of the Republic if they think it is worth it to destroy the referendum to independence.
Those who cry for the conduct of this pre-rigged fake presidential elections do not know their priority in the struggle. Our priority is referendum and to safeguard it from potential spoilers, and not to bring to power the known communist unionist hyenas who would tomorrow turn against us and succeed to penetrate and confuse the ruling party in the South, SPLM and the international community on the issue of independence of the South.
yazB
Mixed reactions over sudden pull out of SPLM candidate
As a Sudanese citizen yesterday was truely the sadest day (after the demise of the Late Dr. Garang)in the histroy of the Sudan.
In 1995 I, was a young journalist at the time at the MBC satellite TV from London, and was called in one day by the Executive Editor of the Newsroom at the time (He was Lebanese) and asked me to choose to either oversee an already secured interview with Mrs. Tatcher, Britatins’ prime minster at the time over comments about the future of Saudi-British relationship or attempt to secure an interview with the late Dr. Garang amid increasing military campaign against the Sudanese Army in South Sudan. I told him i want to do the Garang interview. He was suprised and said why? I replied he is a man of interest to me at least. The excutive editor laughed and gave me the assignment after he remarked ‘interesting i thought you Sudanese despised Garang’. I replied, where he got that idea from? he said that was the general perception. I said No, Garang is a visionary leader of sheer determination to salvage the country from the hawks who are breathing over our necks. Suprised the editor was said to me go get him then. I remember very well another sudanese journalist with me in the newsroom was almost laughing at me and said Garang doesn’t talk to Arabic Media, what are you wasting your time on?. I told him he’ll talk if he knows the Sudanese people will hear what he has to say. MBC at the time was the only satellite channel in the region and very few (privelaged) Sudanes were able to downlink the signal (as Satellite Antennas were not allowed in Sudan) and watch in Sudan. I went on it for two weeks chasing every contact i can muster (Internet was not readily available at the time) and finally I tracked him via a satellite phone in Yai. For another week his aides wouldn’t let me talk to him. Eventually they gave in (after we even became familiar with each other and ask each other how are thing in each othess’ end ‘South Sudan- Britian’) when he (Garang) eventually answered the phone we spoke for 5 mins, I introduced myself to him and told him i have been trying to speak with him for almost two weeks but his leutenants would not let me speak to him. I said as a Sudanese, don’t i have the right to speak to my leader if i wanted? and explained that he needed to have an effective press officer who have direct access to him despit the security arrangements and not security personnel who can not evaluate the situation as well as a press officer. He laughed and said; would you be interested in such a position (Press officer)? I replied off course and he said jokingly you won’t leave the comfort of London and come to the jungle, i said try me! but that was that and we moved on and chat it a bit and eventually i managed to convince him to appear in a TV programme (over the phone) where other guests included a senior Sudanese minster. I remember very well, after he was convinced of the value of his participation. he said he can’t do the interview in Arabic, it would have to be in English. I said why? He said my Arabic is not very good. I convinced him it’s not his problem and if i was him i would speak in the language of my choice and it’s up to the TV station to translate my talk. He did appear and spoke a mix of English and Sudanese arabic an it was a historic interview becasue he washed out the minister of foreign affairs of the ruling Islamic Front at the time (Dr. Ismail Mustafa). After the interview i congratulate him on his resolve and manner with which he showedcased the whole struggle as a purely Sudanese Struggle and not North-South. I remember i then asked him on a personal note, is this a true and genuine goal of the SPLM or will it remain an option given political manouvering will allow at best and at worst SPLM will choose to self declare a state evetually if the struggle fails to win, and it was a genuine personal question i wanted answred! His answer was you should know better that the entire Sudan is too weak to be a state let alone a part of it chooses to become one and we as Sudanese will end up eaten alive by our neighbours (he did mention Unganda and Egypt as example).
Since then i had no doubt in my mind that the SPLM was the only able salvation struggle worthy of cause and support and for the last 15 yrs i defended the SPLM in that capacity and conviction.
I am not a believer in conspiracy theory and when a colleague of mine was trying to produce a documentary about the death of Dr. Garang, he had the entire axis of his production built on the assumption that it was an assasination (by the NCP or otherwise, to derail attempts tp preserve the unity of the country and the manner with which it was carried out was similar to the plane blowing techniques mastered and conducted by the Sudanese security apparatus in the 1990s against their own generals) I, distanced myself from supporting my colleague production.
However, after yesterday events it seems almost confirming my colleague theory to me that the SPLM was hijacked by a few sepratists similar in gaol to their adversaries in the north (NCP) or should I say partners in gaols and have confirmed to us all that a very clear deal was struck that the SPLM goes south and remains there and the NCP has the North and the country is split in North-South, we would remain like that for anotehr 50 yrs until another super power decides that deos not serve it’s interests in the region and attempt sto bring about another union similar to that in Germang, Yemen or the current Koreas efforts. We now we know who are clear winners but always ask who are the victims? The sudanes people as always. For a few petrodollars their so called leadership has sold them cheap down the river as victims of another proxy war between china and the USA for tight control over the oil fields.
The withdrawl of Yasir Arman from th epresidential race should not go unquestioned and people should really demand clear answers from the so called leadership of the SPLM? Is the SPLM now a sepratist movement? If so, they shold declare it because the Sudanese people all over Sudan have a right to know the TRUTH.