Apparent apathy to polls

Agencies have told a very different story. The elections are taking place with all the main opposition parties boycotting it. Turnout was very low in Khartoum, with some polling stations remaining empty, according to the Associated Press (AP). People in Khartoum seemed indifferent to the whole process, because they were certain Bashir would win, according to AP. The agency said there was “little doubt” that Bashir and his ruling National Congress party would win.

Voting was not taking place in the three southern states because they are under the control of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army.
SPLM/A’s Nairobi spokesman, Samson Kwaje, told IRIN on Tuesday that this area “constitutes 45 percent of the country’s total territory”. It also included the east of the country, and although the SPLM/A was not controlling Kassala, the town was now “deserted”.

Agencies noted that none of the main opposition groupings were participating in the elections. Kwaje told IRIN that the eight parties brought together by the umbrella National Democratic Alliance, together with the Ummah Party of Al-Sadiq al-Mahdi (who was the prime minister of the government Bashir overthrew in 1989) and the Democratic Unionist Party of Muhammad Uthman al-Mirghani, “represent 90 per cent of the electorate in Sudan”. The fact that the elections involved the remaining 10 percent rendered them “meaningless”, according to Kwaje.