Legitimacy remains a real test for Sudan’s referendum: MP
By Julius N. Uma
December 10, 2010 (JUBA) – As Southern Sudan prepares to hold its referendum on self-determination, Mary Nyaulang a member of Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly (SSLA) says that ensuring the vote will be legitimate is a major challenge.
The SSLA legislator appealed to members of the international community like the United Nations, African Union and other key stakeholders to help legitimize the referendum process.
She said that there was a need to establish strong communications channels with the media to communities in the south have easy access to information on the referendum.
“We need to strengthen the communication and correspondence with the referendum technical secretariat at all the ten state headquarters,” said Nyaulang, who played a key role in the formation of the technical secretariat for 2011 referendum taskforce as a legislator.
Nyaulang, who represents Ayod county at the SSLA, was speaking while making a keynote address at an occasion co-organized by One Voice Media International (OVMI) and Sudanese Women in Development and Peace (SWIDAP) in her constituency.
On his part, however, Albert Otieno Ogeda, OVMI’s Executive Director emphasized the importance of sensitizing women on the forthcoming referendum, while lauding United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM) for its tremendous role in supporting women-related issues.
Women in Southern Sudan constitute nearly 60% of the entire population. However, their low turn-out at the start of voter registration raised lots of public concern, however this trend was reversed towards the end of the voter registration process.
Referendum law states that at least 60% of registered voters must cast a ballot in order for the plebiscite to be recognized as legitimate.
Voter registration began on November 15 and ended on December 8, after being extended for one week. The south is due to vote on January 9, exactly six years after the CPA was signed in Kenya in 2005.
(ST)