Presidential aide hints at possible postponement of Sudan elections

October 26, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s presidential aide, Ibrahim Ghandour, said on Sunday that planned 2015 elections will depend on whether an agreement is reached at the end of the national dialogue process.

The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) wrapped up its fourth general convention on Saturday with a resolution providing that the election will be run as scheduled in April 2015 and that the incumbent president Omer Hassan al-Bashir will be its candidate for the presidential race.

However in an interview broadcast by the official Sudan TV channel and the private Ashorooq TV, Ghandour criticised the refusal of opposition parties to join the national dialogue before to postpone the elections.

He called on the holdout opposition parties to join the internal process without precondition adding “if the national dialogue which was initiated by president Bashir agrees to postpone the elections let it be”.

He further expressed hope that the dialogue process be concluded before the elections, pointing that up to now the vote will be conducted as scheduled in line with the constitution.

“If the election is postponed now, the government would be without legitimacy,” he said.

The ruling party says the dialogue period should not exceed the three months.

A number of NCP officials, including president Bashir, said the opposition has a different understanding of the national dialogue process, adding they intend to conduct a regime change thinking that the ruling party is weakened by the 25 year of rule.

The opposition parties including the Popular Congress Party (PCP) and Reform Now Movement (RNM), which participate in the dialogue process, accuse the ruling party of seeking to run the elections and to ensure a new legitimacy before the dialogue.

The opposition parties further threaten to boycott the polls, pointing to the lack of freedoms and continuous detention of political activists.

In a statement released on Sunday, the RNM described the outcome of NCP’s fourth convention as “disappointing”, adding that the four-day conference “has confused the political arena”.

The opposition party further expression its rejection to run the general elections “without completing the national dialogue requirements”, saying electoral process will be considered “illegal and unacceptable”.

BASHIR’S NOMINATION

In his long interview aiming to explain the decisions of the NCP convention, Ghandour defended the nomination of Bashir who rules the country since 1989 while the party extols the renewal of leadership at all the levels.

The presidential assistant said circumstances surrounding the country and the party suggested Bashir’s choice without pressure or power struggle, and referred to the “charisma” that he enjoys.

He stressed that the president got 73% of votes in the Shura Council, and his nomination was approved by 4,400 of the 6,000 members of the general convention.

(ST)