Sudan’s ruling party says Bashir has no plans to abandon party chairmanship
April 30, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The deputy chairman of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) Ibrahim Ghandour has ruled out any chances that president Omer Hassan al-Bashir will step down from the party leadership to transform himself into a national leader.
Ghandour said that Bashir’s chairmanship of the NCP does not prevent him from being a national president because he is a leader of all Sudanese.
This week 71-years old Bashir was declared winner of the presidential elections with 94% of the vote in extending his nearly three-decade rule for another five years.
The NCP has also won a landslide victory in the parliamentary elections.
Polls were marred by opposition boycott and low turnout in what was described as a result of widespread apathy by Sudanese voters.
Ghandour also slammed the Sudan People Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) for terrorizing voters in South Kordofan through shelling polling areas claiming that it led to the death of 149 civilians.
The NCP official said that the government has little appetite for negotiating with SPLM-N rebels “unless they change their ways”.
Nonetheless he said that they will satisfy any invitation for negotiation sent by the African Union (AU) mediation team.
He affirmed that the NCP will begin consultations for formation of the new government but only with parties that participated in the elections and that their posts will be determined by their weight.
Ghandour also revealed that the NCP reached an understanding with the National Umma Party (NUP) leader al-Sadiq al-Mahdi who has been in self-imposed exile since last year.
The Sudanese official also said that they expect a visit soon by a US delegation to continue dialogue but did not elaborate.
He has visited Washington last February for talks with US officials on bilateral relations which have seen little improvement since more than two decades.
Sudan is part of few countries in the world considered by the US as state sponsors of terrorism. It is also subject to economic sanctions.
(ST)