Sudan opposition leader reverses decision on boycotting elections
April 28, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Former Sudanese Prime Minister and leader of the opposition Umma party Sadiq al-Mahdi confirmed his party’s participation in the upcoming general elections, describing the points on the controversial election law as flexible and could be bypassed.
The leader of the Umma Party is scheduled to meet the Sudanese president and Chairman of the dominant National Congress Party (NCP) in the coming weeks to discuss the implementation of what was agreed upon by the two parties.
In a press conference held on Sunday al-Mahdi said that his party could not be boycotting the elections because of disagreement over the proportions of geographical constituencies, proportional representation, or how to apply the share of women mentioned by the political forces in its recent memorandum to the presidency regarding the election law.
Last month the Umma party chief told Sudan Tribune that his party is not prepared to be part of the elections if the Darfur crisis is not resolved.
In 2009 Sudan will hold its first general elections since the 1989 coup that brought Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir to power. A census is supposed to prelude the elections but it remains unclear whether it will be held in the war ravaged region of Darfur which was also the Umma Party stronghold.
However the former Prime minister said that the census can be conducted in Darfur’s major cities and that the refugees “are already counted for the purposed of providing them with food and shelter”.
But the census director in West Darfur, Ms. Wafaa Hassan Mansour said today the census will not be conducted in IDP camps because they are “not accessible.”
Al-Mahdi said “We will boycott if there were plots, and not elections, if the democratic transition has not been achieved or the red lines exceeded”. He also revealed that his party is holding a workshop to determine conditions that could lead his party to boycott the elections.
A number of opposition parties such as communist, Ba’ath and others said that they may boycott the elections if the law governing it is endorsed in its current form. They also suggested that the census should be re-done after resolving the Darfur crisis and before South self referendum in 2011.
(ST)