An advance team of eight monitors were also deployed to Sudan on March 18, 2010 in conformity with the Electoral Code of Conduct drawn up by the African Union High Level Panel on Darfur (AUHIP). It stipulates that “the African Union shall promote mechanisms for monitoring the implementation of this code”.
 

Accordingly, the advance team of monitors is working closely with political parties and relevant authorities to promote the implementation of the Electoral Code of Conduct.


Prepared by the AUHIP, the Code has been signed by 26 political parties contesting the forthcoming elections.
 

The AU Observer Mission is expected to observe the Sudanese elections in accordance with the AU Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa and the AU Guidelines for Election Observation and Monitoring. Based in Khartoum and in Juda, the AU Observer Mission is also expected to liaise with the National Electoral Commission and other election stakeholders.
 

The AU Mission to be deployed across Sudan is composed of fifty personalities including Ambassadors, members of national parliaments, members of the Pan African Parliament, high officials of national electoral bodies, members of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the AU (ECOSSOC), members of the African Human Rights Court and representatives of the African Civil Society.
 

As background, in 2005 the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) put forth, democratic and multiparty elections as an obligation in the implementation process of the National Unity Government of Sudan.
 

Election boycott
 

Nearly all Sudanese opposition parties have joined the southern SPLM in pulling out of this month's elections, citing fears of rigging and insecurity. The announcement comes after crisis talks hosted by US envoy Scott Gration.
 

Meanwhile, Veteran Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi confirmed that candidates from his Popular Congress Party would contest the poll.
 

But the Umma party of former Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, the Democratic Unionist Party and the Communist party have all said they will no longer participate.
 

The opposition parties and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) - which serves in a coalition at national level with President Omar al-Bashir - all believe the electoral process has been rigged in favour of his National Congress Party.
 

They say the registration process has been flawed, and their access to state media and rights to hold rallies restricted.
 

SPLM presidential candidate Yassir Arman announced on Wednesday that he was pulling out of the election.
 

He also cited a lack of preparedness for the election in the Darfur region, where a rebellion has been taking place since 2003.
 

"The people of Darfur in the internally displaced people's camps asked the SPLM not to be involved in the election," he said. "Our response to the people of Darfur's Political Bureau is that we have decided not to run," according to the BBC.
 

The SPLM is still planning, however, to contest the parliamentary and municipal elections elsewhere in Sudan on the same day as the presidential poll.
 

The other opposition parties are still deciding whether to take part in those elections.
 

The US envoy to Sudan is meeting all the parties in an effort to keep the elections on track.
 

He said that if the opposition withdraw from the legislative elections it is not clear whether they will still be held.
 

President Bashir has threatened to cancel a promised referendum on independence for the South if the SPLM boycotts the poll.
 

However the SPLM and Western countries have said that the referendum and the election are separate issues, which should not be linked.
 

The SPLM joined the unity government in 2005 as part of a peace deal ending a two-decade civil war.
 

Some 1.5 million people died in the conflict between the mainly Muslim North and the South, where most people are Christian or follow traditional beliefs.