South Sudan to get more National Assembly seats in possible deal

January 14, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s two most powerful parties are close to a deal to increase the representation of Southern Sudan in the National Assembly by 24 seats, less than the demand of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement.

The negotiations on this issue are the result of SPLM’s rejection of the 2009 census results and their demand for a political solution rather than a technical one to the allegedly flawed census results, which had reduced South Sudan’s number of constituencies.

Vice President of the Government of Southern Sudan Riek Machar, who is co-chair of the Joint Executive Political Committee, met Vice President Ali Osman Taha yesterday and discussed the proposal to increase Southern Sudan’s seats in the National Assembly.

It had been rumoured that this issue was being tied to inter-party talks on a possible electoral partnership. High-profile National Congress Party (NCP) figures in recent days made statements connecting the extra parliamentary seats with the deadline for submission of elections nominations to the National Elections Commission. But with the announcement today of Yasir Arman’s candidacy for SPLM, it is no longer clear that NCP achieved the accord it may have been seeking, especially since SPLM is not now being offered what it had demanded.

“Previously, SPLM proposed 55 incremental increases in the number of seats for the South, but the NCP offered only 24 seats. The two leaders [Machar and Taha] met for the first time this year and the atmosphere of the meeting indicates they could soon reach a consensus,” according to a statement from the Office of the Vice President of the Government of Southern Sudan.

When the two parties reach an agreement on the number of the seats to be added, they will distrbute the seats partly through appointments and partly through election, stated Riek Machar.

“The two leaders acknowledged the time pressure and agreed to revisit the issue next week after the celebrations of the 5th Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Yambio, Western Equatoria,” said the statement from Machar’s office.

(ST)