The votes are in and counting has begun for Sudan’s first (nominally) multi-party elections since 1986. Many Sudanese and international organizations, including Enough, have long stated that without an environment in which political freedoms and rule of law were established, free and fair elections did not have a chance. With the critical vote now over, here’s a look at what Sudanese actors and observers on the ground are saying about how free, fair, and credible these elections really were—an exercise that Secretary Clinton once referred to as an opportunity to “empower the people of Sudan to solve their own problems.”
“Entering the last day of voting, it is clear that the electoral process has been marred by procedural flaws and irregularities, corruption, violence, and severe restrictions on civil and political freedom.”
– African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies
“The election has been riddled with massive irregularities and fraud not only with respect to matters relating to the voting itself such as the absence of candidates from ballot papers, the rigging of voter registration, and the use of non-permanent voter ink, but also commission of crimes such as the burning of election centers, the beating of voters, forced voting based on violent threats, summary trials of citizens in Khartoum, arrest of candidates, attacks on domestic monitors and so on.”
“From our point of view and the point of view of the other parties’ candidates, rigging the 2010 general elections at all levels was completed today- the first day of the polling process.”
– National Assembly candidate letter notifying the National Elections Commission of his decision to withdraw from the race
“These incidents are an obstruction of SuNDE’s right to observe the electoral process and impairs the transparency of the voting process at the polling stations where the SuNDE observers were observing. Moreover, the unjustified arrest and removal of accredited observers may heighten a sense of intimidation in certain areas.”
– Sudanese Network for Democratic Elections statement on the removal of SuNDE observers from polling stations