“As the voting kicked off on 11 April many Sudanese voters turned up to cast their votes for the first time in the history of Southern Sudan. However many of the polling stations did not open in time, some opening at 10am, others at midday, and others not at all that day. Reasons given were missing ballot papers or missing voter registration books.
The delays led to frustrations as many voters were left waiting. Just finding your name in the huge lists outside polling station was challenging enough. It took me three hours and six different polling stations before I could find mine.
Plain clothed security personnel patrolled the polling stations, and on Tuesday in South Kator they arrested 19 of the domestic observers. We approached the head of security personnel and the observers were released – but no reason was given for their arrest.
Counting begins tomorrow and I’ll keep you up to date with progress.
Taban Kiston Santo
Juba”
