Sudan’s constitutional court agrees to hear challenge against referendum commission
December 14, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The highest judicial body in Sudan has reportedly accepted a legal challenge presented by a group of lawyers seeking a ruling on alleged violations related to the voter registration process in preparation for the South Sudan referendum scheduled for January 9, 2011.
Haj-Hamad said that the next step would be for the court to consider relief requested by them and also order the South Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC) to file a response to the motion after hearing the arguments and then issue a final ruling.
He said that they have asked the court to annul all procedures arising out of the voter registration and immediately halt work of the SSRC until the court reaches a decision on whether the commission should be dissolved and have a new one established that would adhere with the Referendum Act of 2009.
The lawyers have officially filed their case last Sunday saying they “represent ordinary citizens who believe that their constitutional rights have been violated”.
Lawyers speaking to Reuters said that the court would likely rule after three days.
Three weeks of voter registration for the referendum ended last week, with almost three million people signing up to vote in the south, electoral officials said.
The Muslim north and mostly Christian and animist south agreed in 2005 to hold the referendum as part of the peace accord that ended a 22-year civil war in Sudan, Africa’s largest country. The people of south Sudan must choose between secession and staying united with the north.
Analysts and observers expect that the Southerners, bitter after more than two decades of civil war, will opt for establishing their independent state.
Sources told Sudan Tribune last week that a number of Southern figures backed by the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) will seek to file a lawsuit against SSRC to obtain a ruling that the commission’s has violated the interim constitution and the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in conducting the voter registration.
Among the arguments put forward by the group that the referendum law stipulates that registering the voters and finalizing the lists should have been completed three months prior to the vote. Because the Sudanese national assembly has not passed any amendments to the current law and thus the voter registration process should be deemed unconstitutional.
Another source at the commission told Sudan Tribune that the SSRC chief Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil has already informed both the NCP and the SPLM of the legal loopholes that exist in the process but received no response.
He added that Khalil was directly warned by a handful of NCP officials that they will push for a legal challenge against his commission and it was hinted to him that he should resign.
The head of the SSRC came under fierce attack in recent weeks from the NCP which claimed that he has turned a blind eye to “blatant” violations committed by the SPLM in the registration process.
The NCP alleges that the ex-Southern rebel group is intimidating potential voters so that they don’t register in order to make it likely that the referendum will result in a vote for secession. Last month, the NCP stressed that they will not recognize the outcome of the referendum if the registration process continues in this non-transparent manner.
Sudan official news agency (SUNA) quoted a court official on Monday as saying that there are five challenges filed so far related to voter registration and the fifth claiming that the 2005 peace agreement is unconstitutional. The latter was reported to have been made by an Egyptian lawmaker.
The head of the SSRC said he knew of six legal petitions against the process, and added that the court would hear both sides’ arguments before giving a ruling.
“This kind of situation which is fraught with emotion and political overtones, I don’t think it would accept it so easily,” he told Reuters
The new development could have severe repercussions particularly if the court grants an injunction to temporarily suspend the work of the commission which would surely cause a delay in conducting the highly sensitive vote.
In the worst case scenario, the Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM), which controls the South, could decide to unilaterally declare independence or conduct its own referendum.
Observers say that a feeling of disappointment among Southerners that is caused by a postponed referendum could trigger violence in the region.
(ST)