Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir looked set to stay in power as counting continued in Sudan’s first multi-party election in 24 years, a poll marred by logistical snags and charges of fraud.
In a classroom-turned-polling station in Khartoum, National Election Commission (NEC) officials read out each ballot paper’s result under the watchful eye of local observers and representatives of the different political groups.
“Al-Khitim [“stamp” in Arabic]. Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir,” said an NEC staffer to prove a ballot paper had been officially stamped before announcing the chosen candidate’s name.
PHOTO: REUTERS
When one party member contested a ballot paper, staffers dived for their electoral law manuals before agreeing that the ballot paper in question should indeed not be counted.
The election was marred by an opposition boycott and the withdrawal of two presidential candidates, the Umma party’s Sadiq al-Mahdi and the former southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement’s Yasser Arman.
The two had been considered strong challengers to Bashir, but their withdrawal means the veteran president is nearly certain to win, with Hatim al-Sirr of the Democratic Unionist Party coming a distant second.
“Yasser Arman,” read out the NEC staffer at the Khartoum polling station, confusing all those present.
Arman and Mahdi withdrew after ballot papers had already been printed, so people could theoretically still cast a vote for them.
About 16 million registered Sudanese voters had been asked to choose their presidential, legislative and local representatives. Southerners also voted for the leader of the autonomous government of south Sudan.
Participation is “more than 60 percent” based on preliminary figures, the NEC said on Friday afternoon. Results are expected on Tuesday.
The Sunday-to-Thursday vote was Sudan’s first multi-party election since 1986.
Polling had been originally scheduled to last three days, but a series of delays and logistical problems prompted the NEC to prolong voting by two days.
On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hailed the election and urged all sides to conclude the electoral process without violence.
As the counting continued, one top UN official in the south of the country warned on Friday that the impoverished region faced a major food crisis that could effect millions of people.
“We have a very general problem of food insecurity across all of southern Sudan,” said Lisa Grande, UN Deputy Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Juba in southern Sudan.
“We are looking at a situation where 4.3 million people require some forms of food assistance during the year,” she said.
Failed harvests, people displaced for security reasons and rising food prices have all combined to create a “humanitarian perfect storm,” Grande said.
Seven out of the 10 southern states were in trouble, she said.
“What we are avoiding is a free fall, when people are dying in mass. We are in a situation of struggle. We are at the break,” Grande said.
Voting proceeded calmly in most parts of Africa’s largest country, but the results could ignite tensions in more contested areas, particularly in south Sudan.
The process was seen as a bid to restore Bashir’s stature after he was indicted by the International Criminal Court in March last year for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the western region of Darfur.
An aide to Bashir, Nafie Ali Nafie, said on Thursday that Bashir’s re-election would prove allegations against him are “false.”
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