Sudanese political groups disagree on second deputy speaker
April 25,2007 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese political parties in the Parliament disagreed on Monday to elect a second deputy speaker.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) objected the election of the second deputy speaker of the parliament from the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) but it however, did not nominate its candidate to take over the position.
The Speaker, Ahmed Ibrahim Tahir, said the NDA has been requested to nominate their candidate although the position is NCP’s by right but they did not.
He added that the failure can be squarely blamed on the NDA because they were unable to present their candidates.
During the election that took place to choose the second deputy speaker of Parliament, the chairman of SPLM’s block in the Parliament nominated Manoah Aligo, while NCP nominated Mohamed al-Hassan for the position. In the end the NDA nominated Hassan Abu Sabib for the position to avoid manipulation by the NCP is a breach of the CPA.
But Mohamed al-Hassan of the National Congress Party won in the elections with 207 votes, while Hassan Abu Sabib had 37 votes.
The NDA was not happy for the result of the elections because according to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005 between the SPLM, the ruling NCP holds 52 per cent of the seats in the parliament.
NDA dismisses the out come of the election.
The position of the second deputy speaker has been vacant since the inception of the Parliament in 2005 because some parties including the NDA joined the Sudan’s Government of National Unity (GoNU) late.
(ST)