Sudan’s ruling party selects major nominees for president

October 20 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The Leadership Council of Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) selected five nominees to compete for the presidency of the party and next year’s presidential elections in a secret ballot on Monday.

President Omer al-Bashir is the first of the party’s nominees despite his absence from the meeting. The other four nominees are first vice-president Bakri Hassan Saleh, former presidential aide Nafie Ali Nafie, former first vice-president Ali Osman Mohamed Taha and presidential assistant Ibrahim Ghandour.

The initial list of 10 people submitted to the NCP Leadership Council included vice-president Hassabo Abdel-Rahman, Mustafa Osman Ismail, Mehdi Ibrahim, Ahmed Ibrahim al-Tahir and former vice-president al-Haj Adam.

The five nominees selected by the Leadership Council will be referred to the Shura Council which chooses and ranks three of the five in terms of preference. Afterwards only one name is picked and tabled at the General Convention for endorsement.

Observers in the capital say there is a little doubt now that the NCP nominates a candidate other than Bashir. Earlier this year, some analysts went to say that the president was preparing to hand over the presidency to his friend and first-vice president Bakri Hassan Saleh.

In remarks after the vote, Ghandour said 84 of the 91 Council’s members attended the meeting.

He praised the consultative approach followed in the selection of party nominee, and attributed the absence of incumbent president form the meeting to the need to allow greater freedom for the participants to make their choice.

The NCP’s convention will kick off on 23 October.

(ST)