Independent candidates big winners in Sudan elections
April 19, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Independent candidates have won several constituencies in Sudan’s general elections which produced sweeping victory for the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).
Journalist Mohamed Abdel-Basit told Sudan Tribune that Abas won votes of his Rubatab tribe besides votes of his opponent’s tribe, Manaseer, saying the former MP did not support issues of resettlement of his people who were affected by the construction of the Merowe dam.
NCP chairman in the River Nile state, al-Hadi Abdallah, told the pro-government Sudan Media Centre (SMC) they formed a committee headed by the NCP deputy chairman to engage in dialogue with the wining independent candidates in the state.
Preliminary tallies also showed that Independent candidate, Mubarak al-Nour, has won a surprise victory in the national constituency in the locality of Al-Fashaga in Gedaref state in eastern Sudan following fierce competition against the NCP candidate.
Ashorooq TV correspondent in Gedaref said that al-Nour’s victory constitutes a major shift in the historical record, pointing the result will have positive impact in wining prospects of independent candidates in the future.
Also, the independent nominee, Abu al-Gasim Bartam, has defeated the NCP candidate, Bilal Osman, in the constituency of Dongola in the Northern state.
Baratam addressed large crowed of his supporters in Dogola following news of his victory on Saturday, pledging to represent all people of the constituency.
Chief Editor of the Al-Wifaq newspaper, Rihab Taha, saw the victory of Baratam as a proof of the true competition and integrity of elections, saying Dongola was historically a stronghold for the Sudanese Islamists.
NCP also lost three constituencies for the independent candidates in South Darfur state.
The head of the higher elections committee in South Darfur state, Suleiman Abdel-Rahim, said that 336,000 out of the 1000,000 registered voters have casted their votes, saying they are haven’t yet received results from eight polling centres due to poor communication.
According to the results, NCP lost two constituencies in the locality of Kateela including the geographical constituency number six which was won by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the national constituency number 10 which was won by the a splinter faction of the National Umma Party (NUP).
The candidate of the Federal Umma Party (FUP) Omer Suleiman Adam has won the elections in South Darfur capital, Nyala following fierce competition against nominees from the Sudan Liberation Party (SLP) and the National Liberation and Justice Party (NLJP).
Osama Atta al-Manan, nominee of the DUP led by Mohamed Osman al-Merghani has won central Nyala constituency.
Independent candidate Hamid Sharif won the national constituency in the locality of Kass while Ismail Abdallah the emir (leader) of the Islamic movement (IM) in the state won the east Nyala constituency.
Mohamed al-Tahir Aseel, an independent nominee has won the national constituency number seven in the locality of Ed el-Firsan following fierce competition against candidates from the DUP and United Umma Party (UMP).
The independent nominee Harazim Ahmed al-Mahboub has won the national constituency in the locality of Tulus while the candidate of the NLJP, Fathi Mohamed Issa won the geographical constituency.
Mohamed Adam Bahshain, the candidate from the DUP won the geographical constituency of Surgaila while the NCP candidate and former finance minister Ali Mahmoud won the national constituency in the locality of Rihaid Al-Birdi by acclamation.
On the other hand, the National Umma Party/Collective Leadership (NUP-CL) nominee Ahmed Barsham Mohamed won the geographical constituency in Rihaid Al-Birdi.
The semi-official SMC reported that an independent candidate has won the national constituency in Abu Kershola in South Kordofan.
Independent candidate, Ali Youssef Dafa’allah, has won the geographical constituency number 21 in Singa in Sennar state while another independent nominee; Salah Ahmed al-Nour won the national constituency.
Also, the independent nominee Al-Tayeb Ahmed Ali has won the geographical constituency in Hantoub in the Gazira state.
SWEEPING VICTORY FOR BASHIR
However, unofficial preliminary results showed that incumbent president and NCP candidate Omer Hassan al-Bahir has won sweeping victory in the various states.
According to the Andadulu Agency tallies of elections, based on 25 polling stations across the country, indicate a landslide victory for Bashir, with some stations recording a 90% win for the incumbent ruler.
“In capital Khartoum, Bashir scored significantly higher than his competitors for the country’s highest office, according to unofficial results collected from ten polling stations in the capital,” the Turkish agency said.
Parliamentary candidates from the ruling NCP) also scored much higher than their competitors in Khartoum.
In South Darfur, unofficial tallies from five polling stations indicate a victory of over 90% Bashir in the presidential poll.
Bashir also scored over 90% of the vote in the Gezira state, according to figures from 10 polling stations.
The incumbent president and candidate of the ruling party ran against some dozen of unknown independent candidates, as the opposition parties boycott the presidential and parliamentary elections.
Meanwhile, the Arab League (AL) monitoring mission said Sunday that Sudan’s general elections were carried out “transparently and in accordance with international standards”.
The head of AL mission, Alaa al-Zuhairi, said at a press conference in Khartoum the mission has deployed 40 observers that travelled to all Sudanese states during the elections, adding that observers visited 1,000 polling stations and monitored the count in 31 stations.
Al-Zuhairi said although the mission registered some errors in the distribution of some voter lists at polling stations, no security violations were registered during the election due to the heavy deployment of security forces across Sudan.
He described Sudan’s elections as “important and positive move within the framework of enhancing the democratic path in the country”, stressing AL’s keenness to support Sudan to achieve peace and economic development.
The AL official also pointed to the need for continuing the comprehensive national dialogue at a later stage following elections, saying the dialogue must include all political forces and should discuss all Sudanese issues without exception.
Sudan’s election was initially scheduled to end on Wednesday, but the National Elections Commission (NEC) extended the vote for an extra day due to low turnout.
The elections were dogged by logistic, administrative and security difficulties, according to the electoral body.
NEC began tallying votes on Friday, with electoral observers estimating that only a third of Sudan’s 13.6 million registered voters went to the polls.
Voters also elected 425 members of parliament and 2,235 members of state legislative councils.
The final results of the elections will be officially announced on 27 April.
(ST)