Sudan gets nod from Carter & EU on elections despite falling short of int’l standards

April 17, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — The European Union (EU) and the Carter Center issued their preliminary assessment of the elections in Sudan saying that whole they do not meet international standards they should be recognized.

“It is obvious that the elections will fall short of meeting international standards and Sudan’s obligations for genuine elections in many respects. Nonetheless, the elections are important,” said a statement the Carter Center which monitored Sudan’s first competitive polls in 24 years.

“Unfortunately, many political rights and freedoms were circumscribed for most of this period, fostering distrust among the political parties.”

It said the Center “observed important flaws and found that the process fell short of Sudan’s obligations and related international standards”.

“These elections have struggled to reach international standards. They have not reached them all,” the head of the European Union observer mission in Sudan, Veronique de Keyser, told reporters.

De Keyser who led a delegation of 130 monitors from 25 European states said there had been “significant deficiencies” including logistical problems and intimidation.

“The competitive nature of the campaign was reduced by unequal resourcing and treatment by the authorities as well as boycotts and late withdrawals by opposition parties in the north,” said a preliminary EU report.

Most major Northern opposition parties including the Umma Party, Sudan Communist Party, Umma Reform and Renewal Party (URRP) boycotted the elections days before they were due to start saying the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has made it impossible for the process to be held in a free and fair manner.

The Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM),the junior partner in the government of national unity (GoNU), also declined to participate in the elections in the North with limited exceptions for the same reasons.

But Sudan’s National Election Commission played down the criticism, saying that the reports should have taken context into account.

“The reports “do not take into account conditions in which the elections took place,” NEC vice chairman Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah told state TV.

He said the election should have been judged by its “fairness”, “participation” and the “free environment in which it took place,” underlining the fact this way “a new electoral experience for the Sudanese voter.”

Sudan’s first multi-party elections since 1986 called on some 16 million voters to choose their president, legislative and local representatives. Southerners also voted for a president of their autonomous region.

The EU suggested the elections in the South were less orderly than that in the North.

“In the south there was greater competition but a less controlled environment leading to more confusion, clashes and intimidation,” the EU mission said.

Both Carter and EU said that they expect the world to give their blessings to the elections.

“My belief is that most of the international community, as represented by their governments, will accept the result of the election,” the former US president said.

Sudanese opposition parties which did not boycott the elections today vowed not to recognize the results calling it fraudulent.

(ST)