No issues reported in Darfur during voting

April 11, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — The first day of voting in Sudan’s western region of Darfur proceeded with no major issues other than those experienced by voters in other parts of the country.

Most of the IDP’s in the restive region have not registered vote some under instructions from the rebel groups while others saw no point of taking a part in elections under the situation they are living in.

The European Union (EU) monitors pulled out from Darfur this week saying that they are unable to guarantee the safety of their team in a region placed under emergency law after the conflict erupted between the government and rebel groups belonging to African tribes.

They further said that their ability to effectively observe all aspects of the voting process has been curtailed.

But everything was under control when Darfur resident went to cast their votes.

“So far the situation is calm,” one peacekeeper with the joint UN-African Union mission (UNAMID) told Agence France Presse (AFP) of the election in which Sudanese are voting for president as well as for legislative and local representatives.

“It’s true that there were some logistical problems at first — some ballot papers were taken to the wrong places — but the problems are being corrected,” one official in El-Fasher in north Darfur told AFP.

Darfur is crucial for the ruling party desperately seeking legitimacy for its leader Omer Hassan Al-Bashir wanted in the Hague tribunal for war crimes committed there.

The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has been accused by the opposition, Darfur rebels and some international think tanks of inflating the population in some parts of Darfur by including new settlers who came from other countries such as Niger and Chad.

In Nyala in south Darfur, witnesses told AFP that the electoral process was riddled with logistical and technical problems.

One candidate in Nyala, Zein al-Abdeen Ahmed al-Masri, said he was surprised to find on polling day that his campaign symbol — needed to help those who cannot read — had been changed.

“I spent the whole campaign with the symbol of a lorry and today I found it had changed to a bell,” Masri said, adding that he would complain to the national election commission in Khartoum.

Residents, many of whom are illiterate, said they had trouble finding their names.

“I can’t read. I couldn’t find my name. Why couldn’t they get someone to shout out our names using a megaphone?” asked Al-Sherif al-Hussein. “It’s all very complicated.”

The elections — the country’s first competitive multi-party vote in more than two decades — is taking place over three days, but logistical problems could lead to an extension of voting.

(ST)