Sudan vote 'fails standards but should be recognised'
EU vote monitoring chief Veronique de Keyser has
said the Sudanese elections “struggled to meet
international standards” but did not entirely
succeed.
18 April, 2010
KHARTOUM (AFP) – Sudan's landmark polls, which look certain to secure President Omar al-Beshir's re-election, failed to reach international standards but should win world recognition, observers said on Saturday.
"It is obvious that the elections will fall short of international standards," said former US president Jimmy Carter who led a delegation from his Carter Center to monitor Sudan's first competitive polls in 24 years.
Carter was speaking shortly after the chief EU election monitor, Veronique de Keyser, made a similar assessment, saying the polls "did not reach international standards".
A statement from Carter's mission said that "unfortunately, many political rights and freedoms were circumscribed for most of this period, fostering distrust among the political parties."
It said the Center "observed important flaws and found that the process fell short of Sudan's obligations and related international standards".
The process "lacked sufficient safeguards and transparency necessary to verify key steps and build confidence and trust in the process", it said, citing problems with ink, ballot box seals and voter identification.
De Keyser, who led a delegation of 130 monitors from 25 European states, reported "significant deficiencies" in the five-day vote.
"This election did not reach international standards, not yet," she told reporters.
The European appraisal said among the flaws was a boycott by the opposition which accused Beshir's ruling National Congress Party of fraud, as well as logistical problems.
Sudan's first multi-party elections since 1986 called on some 16 million voters to choose their president, legislative and local representatives. Southerners also voted for a president of their autonomous region.
"The competitive nature of the campaign was reduced by unequal resourcing and treatment by the authorities as well as boycotts and late withdrawals by opposition parties in the north," said a preliminary EU report.
But Sudan's National Election Commission played down the criticism, saying that the reports should have taken context into account.
"The reports "do not take into account conditions in which the elections took place," NEC vice chairman Aballah Ahmed Abdallah told state TV.
He said the election should have been judged by its "fairness", "participation" and the "free environment in which it took place," underlining the fact this way "a new electoral experience for the Sudanese voter."
Ahead of polling, two key Beshir challengers -- the Umma Party's Sadiq al-Mahdi and Yasser Arman of the former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement -- withdrew, paving the way for a near-certain Beshir victory.
The SPLM also said it would not field candidates in most northern states.
"In the south there was greater competition but a less controlled environment leading to more confusion, clashes and intimidation," the EU mission said.
In 2005, the SPLM signed a deal with the Khartoum government to end Africa's longest-running civil war. The peace deal provided for this week's elections and for a referendum on southern independence scheduled for January 2011.
Despite the criticism, both Carter and the EU monitors agreed the election process was a step in the right direction for Africa's largest country.
It was "a major step that opens up democratic space in Sudan," said de Keyser.
Carter said the vote provided the Sudanese people with "an opening to participate and present their views," and that the world would recognise the result.
"My belief is that most of the international community, as represented by their governments, will accept the result of the election," he said.
The election sought to restore the stature of Beshir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the war-torn region of Darfur.
Beshir aide Nafie Ali Nafie said on Thursday the president's re-election would prove allegations against him are "false".
But Sudanese Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi denounced the election as fraudulent and said his Popular Congress Party would not join the next government.
"The voting and the counting process are fraudulent," said the one-time mentor to Beshir, now one of his fiercest critics.
"We will take the matter to court and if the judge does not rule in our favour, we may have to use other alternatives than the ballot boxes."
Hatem al-Sirr of the opposition Democratic Unionist Party, who ran against Beshir in the presidential race, said he would not recognise the result.
"I reject the results of the elections and I will not recognise them," said Sirr. "The result does not reflect real participation."
