SSRC’s chief said to request delay of south Sudan referendum: report
December 02, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The chief of the body tasked with organizing south Sudan’s vote on independence is going to ask the country’s political leaders to delay the referendum for three weeks, a move likely to draw the ire of southerners if confirmed.
The emotive plebiscite is widely expected to see southerners opting for the independence of their own country, and thus creation of the world’s newest nation.
But preparations for the vote are well behind schedule, with voter-registration now extended until December 08 and tender to print ballot papers been reopened for Sudanese bidders.
Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil, chairman of Southern Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC), told members of the commission’s board that he intends to write to president Al-Bashir and President Salva Kiir of the semi-autonomous region to ask for postponing the referendum until the end of January, according to his deputy Chan Reek Madut.
Madut, who was speaking to Reuters, said that his boss had argued that some extra time is necessary because of the tight timeframe.
Madut told Reuters he disagrees with his boss and thinks it is possible to meet the 9 January deadline. He warned that “any extension is unpopular.”
For his part, Khalil did not deny that more time would help them do a better job. However, he declined to divulge details of the letter and said that the commission was still working hard to meet the 9 January deadline
“If the commission addresses a letter to the presidency it would not be proper to say we have asked the presidency to do so and so and so,” he told Reuters.
“The question of time has always been in the discussion right from the beginning,” he added. “If you get more time we can do this (referendum) more efficiently. If we don’t get more time, we will try to make do with what we have got.”
More than 2 million have registered to vote in the referendum so far, according to the commission.
(ST)