"Sudanese go to polls in boycotted election" by Maram Mazen, Bloomberg News | April 12, 2010
KHARTOUM, Sudan — Sudanese began voting yesterday in the first multiparty elections in 24 years, with President Umar al-Bashir virtually assured of victory because of a boycott by his main opposition challengers....
The credibility of the elections has been undercut by the decision of major opposition parties to quit the race, alleging government fraud and intimidation.
Then I'm not going to spend much time on it, sorry.
“It’s not going to be a perfect election,’’ former president Jimmy Carter, whose Atlanta-based Carter Center has been monitoring the electoral process in Sudan, said yesterday in Khartoum. “But if we feel that in the elections that the will of the voters has been expressed adequately, then that would be the primary judge for this particular event.’’
Well, it will AT LEAST BE FAIR!
The vote is part of the US-brokered 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended a 21-year war between north and south Sudan. For many voters in Southern Sudan, the election is less important than a referendum the region is scheduled to hold in January to decide whether to become an independent nation.
Related: Southern Sudan to Secede
Yeah, okay.
I'll give this election all the attention it is due.
The peace agreement created the semiautonomous government of Southern Sudan, which is dominated by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, or SPLM, the group that led the rebellion against the north. Salva Kiir, leader of the SPLM, said in Nairobi on March 9 that southerners “attach more importance to the referendum than the elections.’’
Yeah, okay, you want to secede, go ahead.
I'm for smaller and more local so I'm for independence all the time.
KHARTOUM, Sudan — The country’s election commission announced yesterday that it was extending voting by two more days to ensure technical problems will not prevent anyone from participating.
Uh-oh.
The three-day election had been scheduled to run from Sunday through today. But Salah Habib, spokesman for the Sudanese National Election Commission, said the final day of voting will now be Thursday.
Sudanese election monitors have complained that voting has not even begun in some parts of the country, including semiautonomous southern Sudan. There are also reports that some voting stations were moved without notice, voter registries or other crucial equipment are missing, and observers have not been allowed in to witness the process.
Sudan’s first multiparty elections in a quarter-century will determine whether President Omar al-Bashir, under an international indictment for war crimes in Darfur, wins another term. He is expected to win easily after two major parties decided to pull out fully or partially at the last minute.
Related: The United Nations is Racist
Yeah, well, we know that.
See: Slow Saturday Special: Food Wars
Aren't there hungry Africans out there?
Also see: Black Sunday: Ethiopia's Egregious Export
WTF?
The vote was supposed to bring a democratically elected government to the impoverished country, prepare the ground for a vital referendum on South Sudan independence, and begin healing the wounds of the Darfur conflict. But major opposition parties boycotted it, claiming it was unfair.
In addition to the president, voters are electing a national Parliament, local governors and Parliaments, and the president of the semiautonomous government of South Sudan.
The elections are supposed to be an essential step in a 2005 peace plan that ended two decades of civil war between the mostly Arab and Muslim north and rebels in the Christian-animist south. The conflict claimed some 2 million lives.
That seems to be forgotten amongst the politics and setting of Christians and Muslims at each others throats for no reason, cui bono?
The opposition has accused the National Election Commission of bias in favor of the government. They also accused the ruling party of using state resources in the campaign....
I thought those were called campaign contributions.
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And they just can't do elections like we can, American!
"5 reported killed after Sudan voting" by Associated Press | April 16, 2010
Come on, it was a MEANINGLESS VOTE fer cripes sakes!
KHARTOUM, Sudan — The ruling party in Sudan said soldiers from the semi-autonomous south have killed at least five of its supporters in the first report of deadly violence during historic elections that came to an end yesterday.
Sudan’s first multiparty presidential, parliamentary, and local elections in 24 years, which began Sunday, were marred by allegations of fraud and boycotts and raised concerns of new unrest.
The elections were a key requirement of a 2005 peace deal that ended a 21-year civil war between the predominantly Arab and Muslim north and rebels in the Christian-animist south. The fighting left 2 million people dead and many more displaced.
Again, forgotten save for the slight rewrite and reinsertion(?) into the article.
The voting was intended to produce a democratically elected government for the impoverished country and prepare the ground for a referendum next year on independence for southern Sudan....
Yeah, it is AMAZING how DEMOCRACY so RARELY REFLECTS the WILL of the PEOPLE, 'eh?
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KHARTOUM, Sudan — Sudan’s president won another term with a comfortable majority yesterday in elections marred by boycotts and accusations of fraud, becoming the first head-of-state to be reelected while facing an international arrest warrant alleging war crimes.
The only reason British, Israeli, and U.S. officials do not is because they block it in the U.N.
The victory by Omar al-Bashir was widely expected after his most credible challengers pulled out of the race complaining of fraud. But it was likely to raise questions over his international standing and among his opponents, and was unlikely to alter Sudan’s isolation.
Then why so much print on the "elections?"
What about the refugees we are selectively flogged with whenever the agenda needs to be advanced.
Bashir can’t travel freely because he risks being arrested to face charges before the Hague-based International Criminal Court over war crimes committed in Sudan’s western Darfur region.
The same should be true of the you-know-whos I mentioned above.
Sudan’s first multiparty presidential, parliamentary, and local elections in 24 years were a key requirement of a 2005 peace deal that ended a 21-year civil war between the predominantly Arab and Muslim north and rebels in the Christian-animist south. The fighting left 2 million people dead and many more displaced.
Hey, that's a repeater!
International observers said the vote failed to meet standards because of delays, intimidation, and faulty lists, but they did not call for a revote.
I'd like to hear that from Carter so why did you forget him, MSM?
Instead the observers recommended that lessons drawn from the process be applied to next year’s vote on southern independence.
What's that mean, more rigged voting machines?
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