‘Salvage your reputation’ a Sudan rights group tells Carter

April 15, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — A Sudanese rights groups today called on former US president Jimmy Carter to withdraw his election observer mission from the country “before the expected declaration of victory for the National Congress Party (NCP) and its indicted President [Omer Hassan Al-Bashir].

The former president is leading a team of 70 observers during the election period which ended today and has generally said the process went smoothly despite technical issues stressing that there have been no proof of fraud.

“The election has been riddled with massive irregularities and fraud not only with respect to matters relating to the voting itself such as the absence of candidates from ballot papers, the rigging of voter registration, and the use of non-permanent voter ink, but also commission of crimes such as the burning of election centers, the beating of voters, forced voting based on violent threats, summary trials of citizens in Khartoum, arrest of candidates, attacks on domestic monitors and so on,” said the Sudan Democracy First Group which describes itself as a coalition of democrats and for Sudan activists, trade unionists and academics men and women representing Sudan different cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

“Once more we are writing to ask you to withdraw your observer mission from Sudan and salvage your own personal reputation and that of the Carter Center. Your mission is based on the Declaration of Principles for International Observation and Code of Conduct for International Observers”.

Voting kicked off on last Sunday to a chaotic start, prompting the NEC to prolong the voting process by two-days to end on Thursday. The commission also announced today that it is freezing elections in some areas because of logistical issues.

Election monitors across Sudan said early voting had been affected by missing ballot boxes, poorly trained staff and confusion over the location of voting centers. Officials and observers also said that in both the south and north, names missing from the electoral register was a major problem.

“As you will be aware over the last 5 days there have been hundreds of reports of inference with the right to vote from domestic sources, including the media, party agents, and independent civil society groups. It may be as a result of language and cultural barriers that you do not comprehend these incidents, but it is astonishing to us that your public statements since your arrival completely run counter to the on-the-ground reports and realities, seeming to only echo the pronouncements of the NCP and officials from the National Election Commission (NEC)”.

“These statements not only completely ignored the facts and realties on the ground during the polling days, but also jeopardize the efforts of your own staff to monitor the elections fairly and prepare an accurate and credible report. Your statements also undermine the positions of the major political forces and only serve to inflame the fragile political and security context”.

A “preliminary statement” issued last month by the Carter Center on the final stages of Sudan’s electoral process referred discrepancies in voters’ lists and omitted names which led to people being turned away from the polling stations where they were legally registered.

Carter’s observers foretold such problems when they stated on March 17th that they were “deeply concerned” that electronic version of the voters’ list had omitted “several hundred thousand names.”

“Reports have surfaced of discrepancies in the handwritten voter registration booklets and the electronic voter registry. In one case, officials in Warrap have identified a difference of 78,000 in the number of registered voters in the registration books and the names inputted from the data center,” the Center’s official statement read.

Also on March 17, the Carter Center referred to concerns associated with the printing of the ballots in Sudan rather than abroad. The ballots were printed in Khartoum. The observers said that the in-country printing “may weaken the security of the ballots.”

Carter’s staff moreover warned that a “dramatic reduction” in the number of originally planned polling stations had reduced the likelihood of full participation, suggesting that polling stations “will struggle to process all those who wish to vote” and concluding that “even a moderate turnout will be challenging to accommodate during the prescribed three-day balloting period.”

After the release of this assessment Sudanese President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir threatened to expel international observers who push for a delay of the election. Despite this threat in March, and another in April to cut off observers’ tongues.

However, later Khartoum appeared to back away from Bashir’s statements hailing the role played by Carter.

The elections mark a key stage in a 2005 north-south peace deal which ended Sudan’s 22-year civil war, and precede a 2011 referendum on southern independence. The semi-autonomous south is widely expected to secede

(ST)