Sudan postpones elections in seven S. Kordofan constituencies

April 7, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s polls have been postponed in seven electoral districts in the troubled South Kordofan state due to security concerns, the country’s election commission announced Tuesday.

The announcement comes in the wake of claims by the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement -North (SPLM-N) that they intercepted a vehicle transporting ballot boxes last week and renewed calls to boycott the vote.

“Seven out of 24 constituencies in South Kordofan, which is experiencing armed conflict, will not participate in the electoral process for security reasons,” said the head of the National Election Commission (NEC) Mukhtar al-Asam in a press conference held in Khartoum.

Al-Asam added that parliamentary elections will take place in these constituencies later, once the security situation improved.

Some 13 million Sudanese are eligible to cast their vote from 13 to 15 April to elect the president of the republic and their MPs for the national legislative assembly.

As the opposition forces boycott the election, only the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and it allied parties nominated their candidates for the parliament. But all of them announced their support for the re-election of the incumbent president Omer al-Bashir.

Nonetheless, 15 obscure independent candidates will run for the presidential race against Bashir.

The head of the electoral body also denied statements by the SPLM-N rebels that they captured ballot boxes in South Korodfan, saying these claims are “false and unfounded”.

“We did not lose any election materials anywhere in the country,” he further emphasised.

He also reiterated that the elections will be conducted in two contested areas with South Sudan and Egypt, Abyei and Halayeb respectively confirming previous statements in this respect.

(ST)