Sudan: proposal to scrap term limits shelved

<p><strong>A parliamentary committee tasked with amending Sudan’s constitution to allow President Omar al-Bashir to run for another term said on Saturday it would indefinitely postpone a meeting to draft these changes, state news agency <span class="caps">SUNA</span> said.</strong></p> <p>The move comes amid almost daily street protests since mid-December, initially sparked by rising food prices and cash shortages, against Bashir’s nearly 30-year rule.</p> <p><span class="caps">SUNA</span> cited “special emergency commitments” as the cause for the delay without providing further details.</p> <p>A majority of lawmakers had <a href="http://www.africanews.com/2018/08/10/sudan-ruling-party-hints-at-scrapping-term-limits-as-2020-polls-loom/"target="_blank">backed the proposed amendment</a> two weeks before protests broke out and had tasked an emergency committee with drafting the changes ahead of the parliament’s first session in April.</p> <p>Bashir, an Islamist and former army officer, came to power after a military coup. He won elections in 2010 and 2015 after changes in the constitution following a peace agreement with southern rebels, who then seceded to form South Sudan.</p> <p>He is now facing unprecedented opposition to his rule, with street protests involving hundreds of people almost every day.</p> <p>Elections are expected to be held in the spring of 2020.</p> <a style="font-size:16px; font-color:yellow;" href="http://www.africanews.com/2019/01/16/explainer-will-sudan-s-bashir-fall-at-the-hands-of-relentless-protests/"target="_blank"><span class="caps">ALSO</span> <span class="caps">READ</span>: Will Sudan’s Bashir fall at the hands of relentless protests?</a>