Unity state’s gubernatorial rivals adopt joint position against incumbent governor
April 22, 2010 (BENTIU, Unity State) – About six political parties and independent candidates, contesting as rivals for the position of governor in Unity state, have adopted a joint position to tackle what they said was an ongoing rigging of the gubernatorial election results by the state’s electoral body in favor of the incumbent caretaker governor.
In a statement to Sudan Tribune on Wednesday, Teny said the parties had jointly accused the State High Elections Committee of being partial and bias in favor of the caretaker governor, Taban Deng Gai.
She said all those parties discovered with disbelief that the electoral body resorted to inflating the raw figures of the results which were reported from the eight counties of the state, excluding Parieng County.
This, she added, was done in order to claim a verified figure favoring the incumbent governor, contrary to the matching recorded figures by all parties’ agents which put Teny ahead of Gai by 24,000 extra voters.
The parties, she said, have filed a petition to the National Elections Commission (NEC), demanding that the current membership of the State High Elections Committee be dissolved and new neutral body to be appointed and transparently verify the results and announce the winner.
She also confirmed that a team sent to Unity state by NEC from Khartoum met with her and the other political parties’ candidates who briefed the delegation about the situation.
The three-member team visited Bentiu to acquaint themselves with the general situation in the electoral process so that they would go back to Khartoum and report their findings to the headquarters.
The candidates revealed that according to the confirmed figures from results submitted by their respective agents, Taban Deng Gai had already lost to Angelina Teny by a very wide margin.
The joint position against rigging by all the other six rival candidates competing for governorship, has clearly indicated that the incumbent governor was alone violator of the gubernatorial electoral process in the state, she added.
CAMPAIGN TEAM LEADER ARRESTED IN BENTIU
Meanwhile police has arrested the campaign team leader for the independent candidate, Angelina Teny in Bentiu, the state capital.
Teny on Wednesday said her team leader was arrested in front of the State High Elections Committee’s office in the presence of senior police officers and members of the visiting staff of the National Elections Commission (NEC).
She further explained that the arrest occurred when other members with the team leader, that accompanied him to the NEC office, were prevented from entering the committee’s compound. The police reacted by arresting the team leader when he intervened by trying to explain that they were his team members and should be allowed to enter.
Teny further added that the whereabouts of the team leader was not yet known on Wednesday, causing a big concern.
TABAN WILL NOT BE DEFEATED, SAYS KIIR’S CAMPAIGN SECRETARY
The campaign secretary for the incumbent President of the Government of Southern Sudan and chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) has vowed that Unity state’s incumbent governor, Taban Deng Gai, will not be defeated in the elections.
Martin Majut Yak, Secretary for Popular and Syndicated Organizations and Kiir’s campaign secretary was quoted as saying that Taban Deng Gai will not concede defeat despite projections to the contrary that the independent candidate, Angelina Teny, was leading.
Majut argued that Taban was leading, saying he would not concede defeat. “Taban is not, and will not be defeated,” he said.
He optimistically expressed that independent candidates were losing to the SPLM party.
“I am still optimistic now. Nobody came from the independents. All the independents are defeated,” he was quoted by the media as saying.
SPLM MINISTERS EMERGED DEFEATED BY INDEPENDENTS, SPLM-DC
As results from geographical constituencies begin to emerge ahead of official announcements expected on Thursday, three prominent SPLM ministers have already lost to independent candidates and SPLM-DC.
Kosti Manibe, minister of Cabinet Affairs in the Government of National Unity has lost to an independent candidate in his home state of Western Equatoria, John Luk Jok, minister of Energy and Mining in the Government of Southern Sudan has lost to an independent candidate in his home state of Jonglei while the former Chief of General Staff of the SPLA forces and Minister for Regional Cooperation in the Government of Southern Sudan, General Oyai Deng Ajak, has lost to the SPLM-DC in his home state of Upper Nile.
When reminded about the emerging situation of the SPLM losing such prominent figures and what it means to the party, Majut said there was nothing the party could do to save the unpopular leaders in such “local politics.”
“Those are local politics. If someone is not popular in his area, we cannot bring him by rigging. He has to lose,” he said.
(ST)