Sudan extends election period

  1. Posted on Tuesday 13 April 2010 - 10:00
    Muhyadin
    Muhyadin Ahmed Roble, AfricaNews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya
    Sudan's first national multi-party election in 24 years has been extended by two days, the country's National Election Commission announced on Monday. The Commission has said that the election will now run until Thursday, amid glitches in the voting procedure due to delays and mistakes.
    SUDAN- Omar al-Bashir insists elections will be fair
    "There is a two-day extension throughout the whole country. It is to give more time to the voters," Sudan's National Elections Commission (NEC) Secretary-General Jalal Mohamed Ahmed told Reuters.

    The Commission said that the decision comes to guarantee technical problems will not stop anyone from voting.

    The Africa’s largest nation election is part of the deal that ended Sudan’s Muslim north and Christian south civil war in 2009.

    Some of opposition parties have criticized the election as a fraud and called for new polls, BBC reported. Also some of election observers complained that the election had not started some districts in the south of Sudan because of ballots delay.

    Opposition parties say there is no need of any extension but the elections must be cancelled.

    “It's a very expensive problem now. We were better off without elections. It's nonsensical," opposition Umma Party spokeswoman told reporters.

    "There is no need for any extension because the whole process has collapsed," Mariam al-Mahdi added.

    Reports say that the country's two most influential men, President Omar al-Bashir, and Salva Kiir, South Sudan leader, will not lose their positions.

    Bashir seized power of the Africa’s largest nation after a bloodless coup in 1989 and elected as president twice in polls.

    The general election is the first multi-party vote since 1986 and it was signed under a 2005 peace deal.

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