Elections are important for peace in Sudan’s, says Carter
April 29, 2010 (WASHINGTON) – The former US President Jimmy Carter said Sudan’s elections were important to implement the remaining clauses in the 2005 peace agreement despite their failure to meet international standards.
“Despite being opposed in advance and severely condemned by many critics, these elections will permit this war-torn nation to move toward a permanent peace and strengthen its quest for true democracy,” he said in an article published by the Los Angeles Times this week.
Carter Center was observing the complex electoral process in Sudan since 2009 when the voters’ registration took place. The former president said Sudanese vote was the “most complex and difficult” among more than 75 elections monitored by his center.
Carter, who showed his support to the national electoral body despite a number of irregularities and delay, was criticized by the opposition parties and activists.
The opposition parties whoever failed to take a unified position on the elections. The SPLM withdrew Yasir Arman, who was a true challenger to President Omer Al-Bashir and boycotted the elections in the northern Sudan.
The Umma Party of Sadiq Al-Mahdi also decide to not take part in the elections one week before the polls while PCP of Hassan Al-Turabi and the DUP of Mohamed Osman Al-Mirghani participated in the vote.
To explain the positions of the parties that decided to boycott the elections, Carter said the party leaders who did not participate the presidential race gave him three reasons to explain their stance.
“(1) To prevent Bashir’s defeat, which might have caused widespread violence and an end to the peace agreement and the South Sudan referendum; (2) to avoid an embarrassing defeat for former top officials who had aroused little support during their campaigns; and (3) to discredit the process and avoid legitimizing the victory of Bashir, against whom an arrest warrant has been issued by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
In a related development, a group of eight NGOs on Thursday urged the US Administration to put pressures the Sudanese parties to ensure full implementation of the 2005 peace agreement.
“A return to full-scale war can be headed off… but only if the Obama administration quickly implements its policy to pressure parties who are backsliding on benchmarks crucial to a durable peace in Sudan,” the NGOs said..
(ST)