Sudanese opposition parties decry elections delay

July 5, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — A number of Sudanese opposition parties have questioned the legality of the elections commission decision to postpone elections for the second time.

This week the commission said that the delay is due to receiving the census results later than expected as well as the rainy season, which prevents proper voter registration.

The elections will mark the end of the interim period that started in July 2005 following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

According to the CPA, the presidential and parliamentary elections on national and state levels were supposed to be held before July 2009.

However, Sudan electoral board decided to delay elections to February 2010, citing the need for further preparations and resolving crucial outstanding issues.

The commission then released a timetable showing that polling and sorting the results will occur in the week of April 5 2010.

The head of the political bureau at the Umma party Sarah Nugd Allah said that the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) is responsible for the mismanagement of the election preparations and lack of proper planning.

She called on the NCP and the Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) to sit down and fix a definite date for the elections in agreement with other parties and the elections commission.

Nugd Allah added that the elections commission is a “technical body” and that any decision regarding rescheduling is up to the presidency in accordance with the constitution and the CPA.

A leading figure in the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Ali Al-Sayed echoed Nugd Allah’s call saying his party was not surprised and expressed feat that the elections could be pushed back further.

The deputy DUP leader Ali Mahmood Hassanein wrote a legal Op-ed saying that the electoral commission does not have the legal authority to set dates for the polls to open.

Hassanein said that the constitution said that the July 9th 2009 date is a firm date that the commission has the right to delay elections only once for 60 days on September 9th 2009.

Furthermore the DUP official said that the delay can only be under two circumstances including emergency law or unexpected event threatening the country.

He added that the government of post-July 9th 2009 will be illegitimate and that a constitutional vacuum will occur unless a new cabinet is formed consisting of technocrats while considering the South’s power share according to the CPA.

“Otherwise the current regime would have led another coup on July 9th 2009 and all people must treat it accordingly,” Hassanein wrote.

In the past both the NCP and the SPLM brushed off the calls for an interim broad based government.

Today the Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir accused unspecified political powers of fearing to face the elections and want to backtrack on it.

“We pledged for peaceful exchange of power. When it got close we see some talking in a different language and attempt to instigate problems and obstacles. The elections are on time” Al-Bashir said.

“They should prepare to return to the people and their popular bases. Whoever is chosen by the people we will hand him power” he added.

Al-Bashir said that the electoral commission is the only body that can set the elections date not the NCP.

(ST)