Umma party election pullout deals another blow to vote credibility
April 7, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — Following over a week of discussions the largest opposition party in North Sudan took the highly unexpected move of boycotting elections at all levels including presidential, parliamentary and gubernatorial only a few days before the polls were due to open.
The Umma Party led by former prime minister Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi issued a statement late on Wednesday saying that the political bureau met over two days and afforded every member the opportunity to express their views on comprehensive/partial boycott of elections or participating.
“[The decision was taken to] boycott the ongoing elections at all levels due to non-response to the conditions of time extension to implement the remaining seven conditions and [we] announce [our] non-recognition of the results and the party leader has the right to exercise his functions in executing the decision in the manner that considers the supreme national interest” according to the statement read by Sara Nugd-Alla, a member of the Umma Party political bureau today.
Al-Mahdi will hold a press conference on Wednesday afternoon to explain the motives behind the decision, she said.
Last Friday, the party had submitted eight sets of demands to the National Election Committee (NEC) that have to be fulfilled in order for it to remain in the race. The Umma party wanted guarantees to ensuring the neutrality of the media and freedom of access to it by all political parties, government funding of election campaigning, prohibiting the use of government resources by any party, regulation and determining a specific ceiling for campaign financing and spending, recognizing that elections in Darfur region will be incomplete and creating a body to oversee the work of the NEC.
Furthermore, Al-Mahdi’s party demanded that the right of South Sudan to hold the 2011 referendum as planned should not be subject to negotiations or political maneuvering.
The party said that should the government agree to the aforementioned terms, the elections must be postponed till next May which is different from the original date proposed by opposition parties which falls in November.
The NEC was given until Tuesday to respond positively and Al-Mahdi have said this week that 90% of what they asked for was implemented leading most observers to believe that the party will lift its boycott. The electoral body rejected any postponement insisting that they will go as planned.
Al-Mahdi was the last democratically elected leader of Sudan in 1986 before being overthrown in 1989 by president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir’s and is one of the two main challengers in the presidential polls.
The favorite to threaten Bashir, Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) candidate Yasir Arman, withdrew last week citing major fraud and the continuing conflict in Darfur but suspicions arose that the ex-Southern rebel group took the decision under pressure from the NCP to withdraw Arman in return for facilitating South Sudan’s road to independence following the 2011 referendum in the semi-autonomous region.
The Umma party is joined in his position by the SPLM which yesterday announced a boycott in most of North Sudan, the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) and the breakaway Umma Reform and Renewal Party (URRP).
The opposition Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which pulled out of the presidential race last week after the first SPLM boycott, said late on Tuesday it had reversed its decision.
It decided to reinstate its presidential candidate Hatim al-Sir after appeals from supporters, party official Salah al-Basha told Reuters, without giving details.
The DUP has been holding talks with the ruling NCP in recent days and was a late member of a loose opposition coalition protesting against irregularities. Some commentators earlier saw it as a possible NCP ally in the poll.
Analysts say that Bashir is desperately seeking credible elections to fend of the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) last year for him over war crimes committed in Darfur. where 300,000 are believed to have perished since the conflict erupted in 2003.
(ST)
Kim Deng
Umma party election pullout deals another blow to vote credibility
Folks,
The separatists in the South don’t care much about what the traditional political parties (UMMM, DUP, NDA…) say, but referendum for South Sudan.
Time1
Umma party election pullout deals another blow to vote credibility
The big question people should ask themselves is, What type of change they are looking for and when do they want to achieve that change? because omer bashir is clearly going to win this election and he will remain there for another 5 years, the NCP will dominate both legislative and state assemblies and they will control the presidency, is that what northern opposiiton leaders want to happen for the next 5 years? The witdrawal will not affect the elections but will affect their own political activity and the way they want to reach to their objectives.
It now looks like bashir will win in the north and Kiir will win int he south, referendum will happen in 2011 and then both leaders will remain in power for another 5 years after that.
But in 5 years time i see change coming to Sudan, because this elections has tought everyone a big lesson and has opened peoples eyes and rise political awareness which was not previously available in the the country, I see a brighter future for Sudan in terms of democratic transformation in the next 5 years. south sudan is more likely to see swift democratic transfor mation compared to north due to the openess of the south to democratic ideas.
As for now bashir will win in the north and Kirr in the south and continue their work to implement the CPA, other parties will onyl remain bystanders especially in the north, wether there is withdrawals or not, wether there is credibility talk or not.
Dinka Boy
Umma party election pullout deals another blow to vote credibility
Do Nuer tribe in South Sudan knows politics? none
Only food to eat and being bribe by Arab goverment.
Nuer are primitives and the last people who have no educational background. Good luck!
Duke of Moliville
Umma party election pullout deals another blow to vote credibility
Dear comrades, we must genuinely examine and understand the dimensions of a democratization process in the Sudan along side the atrocities committed to humanity over the last fer decades.
Any democratic transition in The Sudan will only accelerate in the coming few years after Bahsir is out of power. If not addicted to his presidential seat, then Bashir is certainly used to illegitimacy which unfortunately is not holding water in the 2st century politics which is no longer played in obscurity. But with all the strategies laid by these Mafias, it is even more clear that even if Yassir gets 90% of the votes in the race, he will not be declared a winner. Sounding like a paradox to the the lay man but to erase the ambiguity in the minds of the South Sudanese of any games played by the SPLM-NCP to pave the way for an independent South Sudan; The right to self determination of the South Sudanese is not subject to negotiations, any body which tries to subject it to any for of abrogation shall in return be served with what they deserve and it has already been strategiszed by the SPLM and that is brilliant.
So i want to assure you that the withdrawal is entirely to deny Bashir legitimacy to power which by all means would tag even the South Sudanese to his victory.
One final assurance is, Independence of the South is not some thing to be bought or begged from Bashir, at a point of decision, “he who refuses the votes of SELF DETERMINATION SHALL BY NO MEANS WALK OUT UN PUNISHED”
we still got the guts, we shall fear no evil in the our quest for freedom. Our independence is just eight months away, and we are destined to reign in there with or without Bashir whether Banki Moon, Bashir or the AU likes it or not!!
Africano
Umma party election pullout deals another blow to vote credibility
Mr. Sadik Al-Mahdi was calculating his cards and he found he was not going to win in the elections he withdrew. In the first place, he did not like CPA and even he does not like southerners. For those who read his ten points document will know he mentioned on how to solve the southern problem. Some of those were like; settle northerners in the south in order to intermarry and Islamized southerners. Other option was to displaced southerners to the neighboring countries to settle with their African brothers such that the land becomes empty of negroes/slaves.
Some of these SPLM supporters do not understand what Mr. Sadik was after. He wants to spoil the CPA such that we go back to square one. If he became president, he will never honor the referendum since he was not a party in the agreement. Those Dinka who support Mr. Sadik should know how killed Dinkas in Bor when he was pri-minister
Akuma
Umma party election pullout deals another blow to vote credibility
Bashir would be the winner of that Sudan national election because he capable in participating for election. All oppositions including SPLM are confused. How can you withdraw and your names are not been deleted from shortlisted lists. If the can be good leaders, they should make the election go on.
Withdrawal from election will not be the solution to Sudan’s problems because Bashir can never learn his weaknesses. Take example from Zimbabwe election, what had happen, the incumbent Gabriel Robert Mugabe continue with the election.
That will also going to happen in Sudan, since oppositions parties withdraw from election, then Bashir can be the winner.
okucu pa lotinokwan
Umma party election pullout deals another blow to vote credibility
Gatwech,Put into your mind that, the stoten election by the NCP ruling party,SPLM Party wil not waste time in it a cadidate like Yasir Said Arman has foreseen the future after the election,your uncle Omer Bashir 100% will fail this Election,if there is no stealing in it.