South Sudan referendum body sets vote timetable

October 21, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The Southern Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC) has finally released a full timetable of the exercise and submitted its budget proposal to the presidency, reported Sudan’s official news agency SUNA on Thursday.

SSRC is the body tasked with organizing the crucial referendum vote slated for January 2011 on the full independence of the semi-autonomous region of south Sudan.

The plebiscite is the final phase of the Comprehensives Peace Agreement which in 2005 ended decades of civil war between north and south Sudan. Most analysts expect an overwhelming majority of southerners, the majority of whom follow Christianity or traditional beliefs, to vote for secession from the Arab, Muslim-ruled north.

The commission’s operation is already behind schedule as a result of political wrangling between the ruling National Congress Party of north Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement of south Sudan.

According to SUNA, the commission set the laborious process of voter registration to start on November 14 and last until December 01. It also selected November 07 as a date for launching media campaigns which will continue until January 07, 2011.

The commission also said that the first electoral register would be published on 06 December, five days after the end of the registration period. SSRC also set the dates between December 13 to 30 as a period for receiving and settling complaints against the electoral register.

The commission said it would publish the final electoral register on January 04 while the voting process would start as scheduled on January 9.

Similarly, the commission yesterday submitted its budget to the presidency in order to approve it and divide it between Sudan’s national government and the Government of Southern Sudan.

(ST)