Sudan: Opposition to reject poll results

Khartoum — The Sudan Appeal signatories will not recognise the outcome of the election, nor the government that will be based on it.

The allied opposition forces, who signed the Sudan Appeal, a political communiqué calling for regime-change, in December last year, have held meetings with US, European, and African officials. They informed them that the Sudanese ruling party needs to be pressured to accept a transitional government, and a no-fly zone in the war-torn regions of Darfur, South Kordofan, and the Blue Nile.

After a press conference in Khartoum on Sunday, Siddig Yousef, prominent leader of the Sudanese Communist Party, told Radio Dabanga that the Sudan Appeal forces will not accept the results of the presidential and parliamentary election that took place last week.

"Though the National Election Commission announced that the voter turnout was more than 30 percent, we all know that it was less than 10 percent in reality."

According to Yousef, the election was not based on political principles. Pointing to the victory of independent candidates in the northern Sudanese constituencies Abu Hamed and Dongola, he said that the election was "a contest between persons and between tribes".

He stressed that the opposition forces will not recognise the new government. "We will continue with the Leave! campaign until the Khartoum regime is toppled."

Yousef further noted that of the more than 30 anti-election activists who were detained shortly before and during the election, some were released. "Others, among them a number of students of the University of El Fasher in North Darfur, are still being held by the security apparatus."

'Real proportion'

Dr Maryam El Mahdi, Co-Vice President of the National Umma Party (NUP), who also participated in the press conference, told Radio Dabanga that "the Sudanese people, with their boycott of the election, have brought back the ruling National Congress Party to its real proportion.

"Even the head of the National Election Commission, Mukhtar El Asam, could not deny the poor voter turnout. He announced that it was 38 percent, which means that two thirds of the Sudanese population do not want this government to continue. This regime, led by Omar Al Bashir, eventually has to comply with the will of the people."

El Mahdi also stressed that the Sudan Appeal forces will continue their Leave! campaign to bring down "this dangerous regime", and called on "all the Sudanese to stand up and start a popular uprising".

She said that the allied opposition forces also launched a campaign to stop the fighting in South Kordofan, the Blue Nile, and Darfur. "We are pressuring for a ceasefire in South Kordofan, the Blue Nile, and South Kordofan, in Sudan and abroad, to enable humanitarian access to the affected in these regions and the exchange of detainees.

"We further held meetings with US, European, and African officials, and told them that the Sudanese ruling party needs to be seriously pressured to accept a six year transitional government."

Sudan Appeal

On 3 December, representatives of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) rebel alliance, the NUP, the National Consensus Forces (NCF, a coalition of opposition parties), and the Civil Society Initiative (CSI), signed the Sudan Appeal in Addis Ababa.

In the two-page communiqué, they call for the ending of the civil wars in the country, the dismantling of the one-party system, and the rebuilding of Sudan based on democratic principles and equal citizenship.

The signatories agreed that if a peaceful regime-change cannot be achieved by a broad national dialogue, it should be enforced by an intifada.

NCF leader Faroug Abu Eisa, CSI chairman Dr Amin Mekki Madani, and legal consultant of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) Farah El Agar were detained by security officers in Khartoum, a day after their return from Addis Ababa. They were tried for charges of instigating violence against the state and violating the Constitution, until they were suddenly released on 9 April, four days before the start of the election.

During the last week of February, the Sudan Appeal signatories met in the German capital, where they agreed on a joint position paper that became known as the Berlin Declaration, on the contents of a preparatory National Dialogue meeting that, they stressed, should be facilitated by the AUHIP, and take place before the election would commence.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga on 11 March, Yasir Arman, SRF External relations officer and SPLM-N Secretary-General, said that "in the event Al Bashir elects himself in the April election, we will take the necessary steps to declare him an illegitimate and non-recognised president, with the support of the international and African communities".

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