Sudan elections begin, Bashir set for new mandate

A Sudanese girl casts her vote at a polling station in Khartoum, Sudan on Wednesday

KHARTOUM, Sudan (Reuters) -- Sudanese began voting on Wednesday in presidential and parliamentary polls which President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and his ruling party seem certain to win, thanks to an opposition boycott.

The polls opened at 10 a.m. (0700 GMT) amid few signs of popular enthusiasm. Voting is set to continue until December 22 in 23 of Sudan's 26 states. The rest are in rebel hands.

The Sudan People's Liberation Army, fighting a 17-year-old struggle to free the black African, animist or Christian south from domination by the mainly Muslim, Arabic-speaking north, controls the states of Buhairat, Warab and West Equatoria.

Major opposition parties are boycotting the elections, in which Bashir is seeking a second and, under the constitution, final five-year term, saying they cannot be free or fair.

Candidates of his National Congress Party have already secured 120 seats in the 360-member National Assembly, or parliament, because they are standing unopposed.

President el-Bashir casts his vote at a polling station in Khartoum, Sudan on Wednesday

Bashir's four challengers are former President Jaafar Nimeiri, deposed in a 1985 popular uprising after 16 years of military rule, and three little-known contenders, Malik Hussein, Mahmoud Juha and al-Samu'al Hussein Mansour.

Bashir dissolved parliament and imposed emergency rule a year ago to trim the powers of Hassan al-Turabi, then Parliament Speaker and secretary-general of the National Congress Party.

An Islamist ideologue, Turabi has set up his own Popular Congress Party, which is boycotting the elections.

Abdul-Moneim al-Zein al-Nahas, Chairman of the General Elections Commission, has said judges, civil service officials, legal advisers and former armed forces officers will monitor the vote. An Arab League team will also observe the poll.

Sudan has 12 million registered voters out a population estimated at 30 million.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Sudan Ministry of External Relations
U.S. State Department
  • U.S. Dept. of State, 1999 Human Rights Report on Sudan
  • South Sudan Special Project
Amnesty International, 2000 Report on Sudan
Library of Congress, Country Study on Sudan
Coalition Against Slavery in Mauritania and Sudan
Foreign Policy In Focus
  • Sudan: Recasting U.S. Policy
South Sudanese Friends International

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