Sudan concludes presidential elections
April 30, 2015 2015 is election year for many African countries; one of them is Sudan. Elections held on Monday the 27th of April and saw incumbent President Omar Hassan al-Bashir win a landslide election victory for himself and his ruling party. The National Election Commission announced that Bashir took 94.05 percent of votes in the presidential election, while his National Congress Party (NCP) won 323 of 426 parliamentary seats.
The President gave a victory speech after the results were announced, and said
“We salute the observers who came to us and testified that the elections were fair, transparent, free and civilized, a model to be presented to others, especially the colonial powers in Europe,”
“We thank those who voted for us and those who voted for others because it is their right and they exercised it to the fullest,”
Sudan’s opposition has rejected the results. The deputy chair for the opposition National UMMA party, Meriam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi said
“We don’t recognize this election and we don’t recognize its results. We will continue the campaign and work for a popular uprising to change the regime, because the current regime represents the greatest risk to peace in Sudanand its unity. We are going ahead to unify our ranks and to look for an alternative programme for a transitional period and bringing an end to the war through our daily work with the people,”
A Political analyst, El-Tayeb Zain Al-Abdeen is of the opinion that the government is likely to re-invent itself and seek investment from new partners to help recover the economy.
“The government will try to present itself in a new look or frame. Firstly, it reformed its relations with the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia in particular. The government would say that the elections will lead to a new stage in which it will be committed to do this and that in the constitution and to protect human rights. That means the government will do its best to present itself in a new shape and it is keen to continue the national dialogue, affirming that it will complete it whatever the participants are. The government is in need of support from the international community especially in regard to the economy and foreign relations,”
Election turnout was placed at between 30 and 35% by AU monitors but the National Election Commission states it was closer to 47%.
A voter, Muhannad Ali said
“We participated in the elections and it passed safely and the process was very smooth despite the controversy in the social media on the boycotting. It is our right to vote and we did so,”