Sudan vote registration lagging
2009-12-01 17:28
Khartoum - Sudan needs to redouble efforts to register voters ahead of its first elections in 24 years, international observers have said, amid denunciations of "irregularities" and even calls for a boycott.
The Carter Centre, a democracy group set up by former US president Jimmy Carter, said that registration "has been high in certain states" but "participation has been uneven and many states appear to lag behind in meeting registration targets.
"In light of these challenges, the Centre also urged the NEC (National Electoral Commission) and Sudan's state elections committees to make available additional funds for the registration process," it said in a statement late on Monday.
It also asked authorities to "redouble efforts to ensure that registration books and materials reach as many eligible Sudanese as possible, especially in areas with difficult logistical and security challenges, and expand civic education on voter registration".
The national vote will be the first in Sudan since 1986, three years before President Omar al-Bashir toppled a democratically elected government in a bloodless military coup, and the fifth since independence in 1956.
20 million potential voters
Registration for the regional, legislative and presidential elections began on November 1 and was to have ended with the month, but was extended until December 7 after a request from opposition parties and former Southern rebels.
Officials say 11 million Sudanese have signed up, but that contrasts with an estimated 20 million potential voters in a country of 39 million people.
It comes against the backdrop of two regional issues - a 2011 vote in south Sudan on possible independence and an unresolved conflict in the western region of Darfur.
The north and south fought a two-decade civil war that ended in 2005 with a power-sharing peace deal that included provisions for a general election in 2010 and a referendum on southern independence a year later.
Mac Maika, a spokesperson for the Southern Sudan Election Committee was generally upbeat about registration, but said some areas were still left out.
"Mobile registration centres have been deployed, and there has been a good turnout in many areas; the message is getting out," he said.
"Of course there are pockets where registration has not happened, such as in some areas of Jonglei state," hit by inter-ethnic fighting in recent months, Maika added.
"But overall the situation is much, much better and the process has been going well - and peacefully."
- SAPA