Sudan’s ruling party selects Bashir as 2015 election candidate
October 21, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party’s (NCP) Shura Council has selected president Omer Hassan al-Bashir as the party’s candidate for the 2015 elections.
The NCP Leadership Council on Monday besides Bashir selected four other leading members and referred them to the Shura Council to pick one of them as the party’s nominee for 2015 presidential election.
The 70-year old president previously said he would not seek a new mandate saying the country needs “fresh blood”. The appointment of a military, Bakri Hassan Saleh, as first vice-president was also perceived as a step towards his departure.
During the past weeks, Bashir received different delegations from the NCP dignitaries requesting him to accept their nomination for the presidential race.
The other four nominees chosen by the Leadership Council and submitted to the Shura Council included the 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.
Meanwhile, the former presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday that he does not seek to run for the presidency despite being selected among the NCP’s five possible candidates.
“The party members will not select me [as presidential candidate] and I do not want it and it is better for them not to select me”, he said.
The NCP leading figure, Amin Hassan Omer, said in press statements that Bashir and his deputy Salih are not serving army officers, pointing they had retired and became members of the NCP.
The head of the NCP organisational sector, Hamid Siddiq, for his part, scoffed at reports that Bashir will easily won the upcoming election because he wouldn’t run against strong competitors, saying what is wrong if Bashir wins by consensus.
He downplayed voices saying that Sudan needs a president who could break the barrier of the international isolation and build strong relation with the United States, saying the NCP needs someone who is close to Allah [God] not the US.
Siddiq pointed the NCP leaders were unwilling to accept party nomination for presidency, saying that 7 members withdrew their nomination and the technical committee conducted the nomination process twice for lack of a quorum.
NCP MADE MISTAKES
Bashir, who addressed the Shura Council meeting on Tuesday, acknowledged that the NCP committed several mistakes and violations, announcing intention to form a committee to look into these violations in order to overcome the flaws.
He directed the NCP members to implement the recommendations of the Shura conferences, pointing to the political mobility his party made ahead of the General Convention.
The NCP chairman said his address in the opening session of the General Convention on Thursday will tackle NCP achievements during the past five years, pointing he will also deal with the failures.
(ST)