Sudan announces slight delay to 2015 elections

December 20, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – A senior official from Sudan’s National Elections Commission (NEC) disclosed on Saturday that the general elections scheduled for 2 April will be pushed back to 13 April in a move designed to avoid legal problems arising from an upcoming constitutional amendment.

The Sudanese national assembly is expected to discuss amendments to the constitution proposed by the presidency last November which empowers the president to appoint state governors rather than having them elected.

But the amendments, which are almost certain to pass, would not become effective until 60 days after the parliament approves it.

The delay would therefore allow the NEC to remove the elections for governors before the start of the nomination period on 11 January. It was originally supposed to start on 31 December.

NEC chairman Mokhtar al-Assam did not mention the constitutional issue in comments to Reuters on Saturday, but said: “The postponement came for very important reasons that we will announce tomorrow (Sunday)”.

The government-sponsored Sudanese Media Centre (SMC) website quoted al-Assam as saying that the receipt of filled out nomination forms will be accepted only from each party’s registered agent.

He recalled that requirements for running in the presidential race according article 41 (2) of the National Elections Act of 2008 amended in 2011 and 2014 stipulates that the candidate must be Sudanese by birth, of sound mind, be at least forty years of age and literate with no conviction for any offense related to honesty or moral turpitude.

Furthermore the potential candidate must be able to collect signatures from 15,000 registered voters in at least 12 out of the 18 states with a minimum of 200 voters from each state.

According to official data, the number eligible voters in the 2010 elections was 19.8 million people and approximately 50% of them cast their votes. These statistics South Sudan which became an independent state since July 2011.

(ST)