Sudan elections: report from the fieldApril 2010

This Sunday will bring the first democratic elections in 24 years to Sudan. Local Peacebuilder Rasha El Fangry reports from Sudan:

In Khartoum there is a prevailing sense that the rolling party will win, and so the elections do not seem important. Yet outside of Khartoum there is more confidence that other candidates could win.

However as the leaders of the larger parties withdraw one after the other from the election process, that confidence is diminishing. Most of the large parties have now withdrawn from the process, with the exception of the Democratic Unionist Party. The Carter Centre has questioned the readiness of the Sudanese election officials and this question is reflected on the ground. Nobody know if the commision has everything prepared for Sunday.

Sudan's electoral commission has postponed local elections by two months in South Kordofan, the state which straddles the troubled Darfur region. There is concern that this is not for reasons of security but so that the governing party, the National Congress Party (NCP) can complete certain development projects – increasing their chance of re-election.

I have traveled all over South Kordofan in the last few weeks and across this vast area there is a lack of information, media coverage and transport. Many people do not know where to go to vote. Some say this is intentional – and that it is only supporters of the NCP who are fully informed of how and where to vote.

Rasha El fangry 09 April 2010

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