2015 elections are not a priority for Sudanese
By Mahmoud A. Suleiman
July 22, 2014 – This article comes against the backdrop of the news that reported the announcement of the National Elections Commission (NEC) that it had prepared the final budget for the elections in April 2015. Furthermore, the Commission demanded the government of Sudan (GoS) to provide Six Hundred Thirty Million US Dollars $ (630 million dollars) as a final budget for this election! Moreover, they said the election would proceed in time according to the law in next April 2015. Many of the ills of this country could have been resolved with this amount of thee billions of Sudanese pounds.
Many Analysts and observers in Sudan call for cancellation of the April Elections for genuine reasons. First, that large amount of the money$ (630 million dollars) = ( 3,56429000000 SDG Sudanese Pounds) proposed as a final budget for the April Elections could provide food and basic services to the Sudanese people and secondly, the result of the alleged election is settled in advance, as foregone conclusion as occurred in the 2010 elections. The Exit Poll of the April fool’s Day Elections will be Fait accompli! The Scandals accompanied those rigged elections were known to the whole world.
On a related subject, the Central Bureau of statistics (CBS) in Sudan is reported to have delivered to the National Electoral Commission (NEC) the census estimates. Furthermore? the National Assembly- the Parliament- has passed the Electoral Law without the involvement of the components of the opposition forces. Worse still, Omer al- Bashir declared that the General Elections would run as planned in April 2015 and would not be postponed for any reason.
During the elections of 2010 from April 11 through 15, international and domestic election observers reported widespread logistical and administrative problems, irregularities, and allegations of fraud, including multiple voting and ballot stuffing. A widely circulated internet video footage, allegedly of election commission staff filling ballot boxes at night in eastern Sudan, strongly suggests ballot stuffing.
The National Congress Party (NCP) regime is trying to improve its image tarnished by tyranny, corruption, suppression of opponents, committing reprehensible crimes against the people Sudan to show off to the international arena that they practice democracy.
The logical question imposes itself and remains for plausible answer as to why the Sudanese opposition will continue looking for the so-called General Elections doomed for a foregone conclusion. And why the opposition groups enter into an unequal and incommensurate competition under the rule of the (NCP) that has all the potential of winning through fraud, money stolen from the public burse and people’s rights, the mass media supported by the State budget and the heavy-handed National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) that stifles public freedoms and arbitrary arrests.
The two related questions posed above assess the rationale behind the provisions of elections in to how the April 2015 elections might contribute to democratization of Sudan under the totalitarian regime led by al-Bashir.
As for the so-called ‘National Dialogue’, it remains in the stage of clinical death awaiting burial, after the bluffs and the trash that used to cover up. Nevertheless, it appeared to all those who were pinning hopes on it! Moreover, the staunch former supporters denied the dialogue (Wathba) and distanced from it as though it were a scabby. Apparently, the desertion of earlier supporters of the Wathba underlies the immediate cause for the declaration of the elections on schedule in April 2015 to be the contrary to what the (NCP) President Omer al-Bashir hinted. Al-Bashir said earlier that he would postpone the elections in order to allow participation of greater number of components of the political opposition in both its civil and arms bearing factions. The convergence of the two-archrival Islamists factions of the former National Islamic Front (NIF) led by Dr. Hassan Abdalla al-Turabi of the Popular Congress Party (PCP) and Omer Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir of the (NCP) is the other important factor for resorting to speeding up towards the elections. The purpose behind all this empty fuss is trial of marketing democracy, which does not exist on the ground in Sudan, in the era of the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood arbitrary clutch. Distraction of the Sudanese people away from the core issues that occupy and bother their mind day and night is the goal, which stands –alone. Moreover, all that will happen is a repeat of the scenario of the previous election and looking for ways of playing on the cracked cylinder. These tricks used by Omer al-Bashir and his clique have become exposed to the components of the Sudanese opposition forces and the regional and international community, and would not fool the wit of anyone. Corruption of some influential in the (NCP) under the absolute protection of their president and his fellow partners and along with nepotism, exceeded the global figures remain the underlying cause for the economic downturn despite the oil revenues, which is billions of dollars and the treasures of gold, which nobody ever knew the fate of its revenues.
Political Analysts indicate that the immodesty and the ruthlessness inherit in those affiliated to the so-called (NIF) and the Islamic Movement with its amoebic nominations does not hesitate continuing lying, breaking promises for deception for prolonging its survival in power more than the quarter of the century governing Sudan with an iron fist. Thus, the regime continues trying colouring and variegating like a chameleon to achieve the objectives no matter how evil the means taken to the detriment of the people of Sudan.
The NEC said that the amount of 630 million U.S. dollars to set up training courses over the past year in cooperation with the European Union and the International Organization for Migration, targeting political parties and civil society organizations, women and youth, and intends to set up this year too!
Needless to say that the goal behind those billions of Sudanese pounds allegedly earmarked for the elections is the rampant corruption in the corridors of the National Congress Party (NCP).
General or partial elections under the (NCP) authoritarian regime led by Omer al-Bashir is not expected bringing any benefit for the Sudanese people. Moreover, the April 2015 Elections are not a Priority for those starving and suffering the scourges of the never-ending civil wars waged by the genocidal ruler, fugitive from the international justice, Omer Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir and his rogue clique.
None of the evidence suggests that the elections planned in April 2015 will see light on time with the ruling regime of the (NCP) in Khartoum in power of Sudan. The foregoing assertion comes on the wake of the domestic political situation where unification of ranks of both Civil – National Consensus Forces (NCF) and armed – Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) opposition groups to bring about change by using all means. Lately, the regional and global political position has realised that there is no way-out for the complex Sudanese crises other than Comprehensive solution. Moreover, they said that any efforts should be away from the previous Piecemeal solutions that have damaged the Sudan and its population. On the other hand, the Sudanese people who suffered the intransigence of the (NCP) regime among other woes cannot accept any solutions less than the willy nilly departure of the regime to be replaced by, after vacuuming its burdensome legacy, by a genuine democratic system freely chosen by the people of the country at their Plenipotentiary Constitutional Conference. By then the curtain falls on the era of the vacuous slogans of the alleged Civilizational project and Messianic orientation that proved its emptiness of substance and truth. Then, the Sudanese will celebrate the departure of the despotic reign of terror, absence of the rule of law and good governance, widespread chaos, injustice where Charlatanism and quackery prevailed for the past lean twenty-five years; against the potentials of the rich Sudan in natural and human resources. True democracy is the only road that goes all the Human convoy with the exceptions of few such as the National Congress Party rule stands timidly against the tide of history.
Persistent advocates of democracy today remain as a hole of light shed into the wall of darkness milled around the collective consciousness of the Sudan under the arrogant totalitarian regime and the of one-party National Congress Party which claims Pan- Arabism Nationalism – Islamist Ideology at the expense of the deep African roots the Sudanese people feel proud of belonging to.
It is onus on the people of Sudan represented in all of its components to call for cancelation of elections scheduled for April 2015. In the likely case of its happening against their will they resort to boycotting the duo of the darkness of totalitarianism and theocracy that stirs up political agitation and religious hatred and tried to assume the mantle of Arab –Islamic leadership.
Dr. Mahmoud A. Suleiman is an author, columnist and a blogger. His blog is http://thussudan.wordpress.com