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Sudan Tribune

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Sudanese president pledges to hold 2015 elections on time

December 26, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese president, Omer Al-Bashir, vowed to not postpone the general elections of 2015 saying “it will be held on time”.

Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir speaks during a press conference in Khartoum on 22 September 2013 (Photo: Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images)
Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir speaks during a press conference in Khartoum on 22 September 2013 (Photo: Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images)
Speaking to the members of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in Gadaref, eastern Sudan on Thursday Bashir said that the elections will be held as scheduled and “will not be delayed even for one hour”.

He further said the voting process will be organised on one day, and the counting of votes and declaration of result will be done in the same day with the participation of parties’ delegates to ensure the transparency of the elections and avoid any fraud.

Sudan’s opposition parties call to form an inclusive government and to hold a national conference with the participation of rebel groups to discuss a peaceful solution for the conflicts in Darfur region, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile states.

They also say this interim government should organise general elections once a political agreement on the constitutional matters is reached, inaugurating a new democratic regime. But the NCP rejects this proposal saying opposition parties have to prepare for the 2015 elections and rebels should sign first peace accords.

Bashir who recently removed his first vice-president Ali Osman Taha and his influential aide Nafei Ali Nafei said the ruling party would elect a new chairman soon adding this elected leader will be the NCP candidate for the presidential election of May 2015.

He said that the ministerial change was discussed by the party’s leadership before the establishment of a new party by a splinter faction led by Ghazi Salah Edeen Al Attabani.

Observers in Khartoum say that the appointment of Gen. Bakri Hassan Saleh as first vice-president should be seen as an additional signal that he would be the candidate of the NCP for the next presidential election in 2015.

The president Bashir further hailed the role of the Sudanese army in the South Kordofan where the military fight a rebellion erupted since 2011 led by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North.

(ST)

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