Sudan’s ruling alliance, SRF groups start discussions over transitional parliament
June 7, 2021 (KHARTOUM) – The Freedom and Change (FFC) and the Sudanese Revolutionary Forces (SRF) factions have started discussions over the chairmanship of the transitional parliament, said a member of the leadership of the ruling coalition on Monday.
Ahmed Hadra told the Sudan Tribune that the FFC started consultations with the signatories of the Juba Peace Agreement about the formation of the chairmanship of the Transitional Legislative Council, its committees and internal regulations.
The armed groups say they want the chairmanship of the parliament, saying they represent the marginalized regions in Sudan. But, the FFC groups disagree with them.
The SRF threatened, in the past, to suspend the peace talks if the transitional parliament would have been formed before the signing of a peace agreement.
The transitional parliament will be composed of 300 deputies, 165 members for the FFC groups, 60 others will be chosen in consultation with the military component of the Sovereign Council, while 75 seats are allocated to the SRF factions.
Hadra said that up to now 12 of 18 states submitted their lists fulfilling all the requirements.
The FFC had returned the nominations made by its sections in several states because they did not allocate 40% of the quotas to women as provided in the Constitutional Document.
The delay of the parliament pushed the Sovereign Council and the cabinet to arrogate the legislative power. This situation exposed the transition partners to strong criticism from the professional groups and popular committees.
Some activists went to accuse the political forces and the military component of seeking to prevent them from exercising their right to control the government policies and decisions.
However, Hadra reiterated the seriousness of the FFC to form the transitional house, adding that they may establish it with the nominations they received until now.
“It is possible that we establish the transitional council with 200 members, and complete the vacant seats ulteriorly,” he said.
Concerning the consultations with the military component of the Sovereign Council on the 60 seats, he said the FFC sent them two letters requesting to hold a meeting over the matter but they “are still waiting for a response.”
In return, he said the SRF groups confirmed that their lists were ready.
Some political leaders point to the difficulty to represent the popular committees saying that some of them are infiltrated by political groups like the Communist Party which is hostile to the government economic programme and the participation of the military in the transitional authority.
“So there is a real fear that the transitional parliament obstructs the reforms,” said a political leader who declined to be identified.
(ST)