Sudan electoral body hands over budget to presidency
November 28, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s National Elections Commission (NEC) has submitted its 2014 budget and the 2015 general elections’ projected budget to the presidency.
The electoral body asked the government to offer $630 million for the upcoming elections in 2015.
The NEC is also preparing to transfer to its staff and partners the experience of the training sessions which it has organised in coordination with the European Union (EU) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Those training sessions were based on the Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) program which is a modular professional development program with a particular focus on electoral processes.
In a statement on Wednesday, the NEC said that its training sessions target political parties, civil society organisations, media, women, and youth in all states, pointing that the goal of those sessions is to ensure fair and free elections in 2015.
The NEC secretary general, Jalal Mohamed Ahmed, received on Wednesday the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) country director in Sudan, Yvonne Helle, and discussed ways of cooperation in the 2015 elections.
He expressed gratitude for the support rendered by the United Nations in the 2010 general elections, wishing that cooperation continues in the 2015 elections.
Helle, for her part, said that the UN would send special mission next December to meet with the NEC and government officials to determine areas for support in the 2015 elections.
Last month, the NEC deputy director, Mukhtar Al-Asam, called upon the political parties and civil society organisation to agree on an election law and early preparedness for the elections, pointing that the constitutional organs mandate expires on April 2015 which makes it imperative for new ones to substitute them before that date in order to avoid a constitutional vacuum.
Al-Asam demanded the political parties to embark on forming their election committees at the national and states levels and hold their primaries in order to elect their candidates for the 2015 elections.
He said the NEC has made several observations on the 2010 election law which need to be put into consideration in the new law in order to improve the electoral process in a manner which guarantees fair representation of voters.
The NEC official further pointed that they held seminars and lectures with the participation of the political parties and made recommendations which gained the satisfaction of most of the participants.
(ST)