Sudan’s Bashir blasts opposition repeating no delay for election
April 1, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The presidential candidate of National Congress Party (NCP), Omer Hassan Al-Bashir, blasted opposition leaders and reaffirmed Thursday his rejection to postpone the general election scheduled to start in the country on April 11.
In a rally held in the state capital, Sinjah, Bashir criticized the demand of the Sudanese opposition to postpone the elections. He reiterated there will be no delay in the electoral process and the polling will take place as scheduled this month.
In a sharp attack on the opposition forces, the Sudanese incumbent president said they sought to stop the elections by questioning the National Election Commission (NEC) when they said it become affiliated to the ruling NCP.
“Then resorted to their Americans masters to get the postponement and when they got something different they said that the Americans are also [members of] NCP,” he added.
The US envoy Scott Gration held a series of talks with the government and opposition leaders trying to broker a solution to end the current crisis and ensure the participation of all the political parties in April elections.
Hassan Al-Turabi, leader of the Popular Congress Party, told reporters today in Khartoum that Gration asked them brief him about irregularities they observed and then he would address it with the NEC and the government.
He further said that “Gration and some European forces want to hold elections on time as they consider it is too late to solve Darfur issue”.
NCP leader member and former speaker of the National Assembly Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Tahir advised the opposition parties to pull out of the electoral process if they want to save face and preserve their presence in the political arena.
(ST)