Sudan is Africa’s largest country and has 41 million inhabitants.
The country is deeply divided along ethnic and religious lines.
Throughout Africa’s longest civil war, lived from 1983 to 2005 between
North and South Sudan. The conflict in Darfur has not yet been
resolved. Also in eastern Sudan, there has sometimes been uneasy.
Keeping the weekend, the first free elections at the national level in
24 years. There shall be elected president, parliament and governors.
Opposition parties threaten boycott because they believe President Omar
al-Bashir has provided to manipulate the election results to ensure
re-election.
With different voting systems in different parts of
the country, nearly 80 different parties to choose from and both ten
and twelve different ballots to keep track of.
Sudanese President
Hassan al-Bashir has run an unusually active campaigning the last time
and has crossed their country in all directions to meet voters and
promise that the election which begins Sunday, will be both free and
fair.
Exemplary, is stamped the President himself set it several days before boxs opens.
Because, he says, the choice is a religious duty. Just like everything
else his regime are doing and implementing. A religious duty.
The
hope of President Bashir is that he will secure for himself and his
regime more legitimacy through elections. Bashir, who came to power in
a military coup in 1989 and is wanted by the International Criminal
Court for war crimes in Darfur. believe Bashir that a rolling owner can
be a great message to send back to Criminal Court.
It is not good
enough guarantee for those who sit outside the Sudan and can confirm
that it spans the left, the country is now trying to wind up the first
real election in a quarter century.
Or rather “choices”, for there should not only be elected president, but also national and regional leaders.
The report that the UN representative has given the UN Security Council in advance,
U.S. cautiously reluctant criticism her, not to destroy the crucial referendum on the future of southern Sudan next year.
But UN Ambassador Susan Rice has appealed to Sudan to postpone the
election, now only partially will be watched by international
observers. For in Darfur is the tension so great that the EU has found
it irresponsible to be kept and therefore separated from their
observers.
Several million internal refugees in Darfur are not even
registered as voters and do something valresultat in the region
virtually meaningless.
The conflict in Darfur has also made the
SPLM, the main political group in southern Sudan, has decided to
boycott all elections this week. Previously, both the SPLM and
opposition Umma Party presidential candidates pulled their.
It is a complicated exercise Khartoum regime will have an inexperienced Chooser base to go ahead in Africa’s largest country.
In
Darfur voters declared a military enemy of at least one of the rebel
groups, and the nervousness of unrest and violence can be understood
large.
But even if observers disappears and the main opposition
candidates boycott election, the UN is still in place and provides
votting assistance.
That Bashir wins, there is little doubt. He has control over the army and police, and he checks in practice the media.
But campaigning has given small glimpse of political debate and
spelerom. The opposition has been given permission to speak on TV, and
it has been light in the newspaper censorship.
But when it was
attempted to allow demonstrators protest outside the offices of
election , not the police managed to stay longer and struck with the
arrests.
Monday was the second election day. Already around
the clock 08.00 were people queuing outside election offices. It was in
the Sudanese capital Khartoum. Many of them had ever tried to vote the
day before. But they had not done it. Therefore, they were early.
Sunday was the big delay in the election.
So far, there has been no serious violent incidents, according to police in Sudan. What many fear beforehand.
SPLM
demands that the election will be extended. They believe it should be
extended from three to seven days. Monday, they had still not received
any reply.
In Southern Sudan opened many election offices late.
Lists of those who could vote were switched. Elsewhere, they were
completely gone.
- There were big problems at the opening of the election – In the south, many see the election exercise to folk vote next year.
The first election results are expected 18 April.
refrences
1. Norwegian people aid reports
2.BBC news
3. Los angles times
Mid East Youth