2010 Elections as Seen by an Academic
05 April, 2015KHARTOUM (SUDANOW)—Tremendous pressures during the elections which were organized in the Sudan in 2010 were exerted for elimination of the totalitarian regime to a democratic partnership of the opposition factions. Those elections were held in accordance with the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement which ended more than two decades of a civil war between the southern and northern parts of the country.
On the occasion of the forthcoming April 13 general election, we are hereby reviewing the 2010 elections which brought about the current government through a book that was written by a specialized academic, especially as those elections were met with a high concern by many countries, institutions and organizations concerned with democracy and human rights and encountered several challenges, the most important of which was the referendum the fate of the south and whether to remain part of the Sudan or secede.
Those elections were subjected to analysis and criticism by numerous academics and writers and many books and other publications were issued on them, including a book by Professor Ahmed Ibrahim Abushoak: "The National Elections in Sudan, 2010, a Comparative Analysis of the Prologues and Results", a book by Mohamed Saeed Mohamed al-Hassan: "The General Elections in Sudan- the Events of November 1953 and Features of April 2010" and a book by Dr. Abdul Rahim Omar Mohi al-Dinn: "Scenes and Views on the Last Elections in Sudan, January-April 2010: Highlights on the American Trap in Nevasha and Machakos".
Other books on the subject included: "April 2010 Elections in Sudan under Assessment" issued by the high election committee of the National Umma Party (NUP), "The April 2010 Elections in Sudan- Facts and Indications" by Dr. Mohamed Mohamed Sadek al-Karoury, and "The Presidential Elections in Sudan, 2010" written by Advocate Hatim al-Sir, published in 2011 the Egyptian Jazeerat al-Ward publishing house.
Abushoak wondered in his book, which we are reviewing in this article, whether the 2010 elections were free, fair and effective. He presented objective points in favor of those who argued that the elections were unfair, but he stopped short of giving a clear-cut reply leaving the objective analysis of the results of the elections speak for itself.
The book, the first edition of which was in 351 pages and published by the Arab House for Science and the Jazeera Center for Research, attracted a wide attention especially from the academics, politicians, publishing houses and media centers.
The introduction of the book says: "The elections are not a goal but is, rather, a mechanism for attaining a political legitimacy in countries ruled by totalitarian regimes or bringing about a democratic transition in the structure of the dictatorial governments…".
The author wished his book would be a complementary effort to a book which he c-authored with Dr. Al-Fatih Abdullah Abdul Salam headed: "The Parliamentary Elections in Sudan- 1953-86- An Analytic Comparison" published by Abdul Kerim Mairghani Center, Omdurman, 2008. The book completes in the minds of the readers and researchers the portrait of the history of the Sudanese parliamentary elections and the points of resemblance and difference in terms of the administrative procedures and electoral results.
The introduction of the book is followed by six chapters and appendixes which were as follows:
Chapter One: The CPA & the Democratic Transition, Chapter Two: the Constitutional & Legal Framework of the National Elections, Chapter Three: The Population Census & Elections, Chapter Four: The Electoral Constituencies and Registration, Chapter Five: The Political Parties & Nominations, Chapter Six: The Polling & Results.
Finally, the conclusion and appendixes, the sources and references.
In Chapter One, the author discusses the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and the Democratic Transition, saying that in the first Ingaz government (1989-2005) the civil war in South Sudan had a new ideological dimension resulting from the Cultural Project of the Ingaz, on one hand, and the New Sudan motto by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, SPLM, (1983-2005), on the other, with the latter calling for separation of religion from the state.
Due to those contradictory positions, the fighting escalated and reached new regions. The human and physical losses redoubled and the splits and divisions aggravated among the internal parties and the war took regional and global dimensions and ultimately leading to the CPA in 2005.
In Chapter Two which deals with the constitutional and legal framework of the national elections, the writer indicted that the CPA provides for organization of executive elections (the presidency, government of the South and governors of the states) and legislative elections on 9 July 2009 at latest.
He pointed out that the 2005 Interim Constitution engendered a quality transition in the form of the ruling system in Sudan, a democratic graded decentralized system: locality government, state government and national government. It determined the method and conditions for elections to the executive offices and legislative councils and formation of the national elections commission.
The issue of the laws restricting freedoms was raised to be amended so as to cope with the provisions of the 2005 Interim constitution, but it was difficult to have those laws amended and were passed by the mechanical majority of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).
The author says that the mechanical majority constituted an effective element of staining the political environment and in suffocating liberties at a time when the Sudanese people were preparing to exercise their electoral right which might have been the only outlet for having a democratic transition in the Sudan which suffered from the gruesome totalitarian rule.
He adds that the main problem in Sudan is not one related to agreements and constitutions but is, rather, due to failure by the ruling elites in running the state and its institutions for the national interest, in paving the way for the democratic transition and also in failure by the opposition in management of the dispute in a civilized way for promotion of the democratic awareness and activation of the Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue.
The author blames three bodies for the deficiency that marred the process of the electorate registration and preparation of the electorate register which he said were:
1-The National Elections Commission and its high committees in the states which the author their performance was sometimes unprofessional and lacking in administrative neutrality in addition to the weak trust between the commission and some of the opposition groups.
2-The political parties (83 registered parties) the political performance of which Abushoak described as horribly weak.
3-The Sudanese voter who, according to the author, does not possess an adequate election awareness which enables him to uphold his constitutional rights.
Chapter Three discussed the fifth population count, a process which Abushoak describes as extremely important for the balanced development and urban planning. He pointed out that five population counts were conducted in the Sudan since 1955 the last of which was in 2008 which was the most complicated one because it involved demarcation of the geographic constituencies and determination of the resource-sharing elements, distribution of the services in accordance with the population density, identification of the economic and social changes and the demographic composition resulting from the native conflicts and natural conditions in addition to migration abroad.
The writer said the political dispute was heated before commencement of the population count and a number of political forces and civil society organizations challenged the formation of the census council and its technical committees arguing that their formation was politically motivated and not national whereas, according to the challengers, the population count should be a neutral and technical process.
Chapter Four is concerned with the electoral constituencies, the electorate register, setting the number of the National Assembly seats in the states, the legislative council seats for South Sudan, the number of the seats of the legislative councils in the states in addition to the detailed timetables and numbers along with the challenges in the geographic constituencies and objections to the electorate register.
Chapter Five deals with the registered political parties and the political parties law of 2007. In this Chapter, the author casts light on the registered political parties and the political parties' law of 2007 which was passed by the National Assembly, though it was boycotted by the opposition National Consensus Forces alliance. This law included terms and conditions for foundation of a political party and its activity.
The author said: "In a scrutiny, we can divide the registered political parties into four groups: the national movement parties (Umma and Democratic Unionist), the ideological parties (The Sudanese Communist, the Islamic Charter), the Pan-Arabism (the Ba'athist, the Nasserite) and the regional (Bija Congress, the Sudanese National Party, and SANU). There are other parties which cannot be placed among anyone of these groups."
Reviewing the programmes of the political parties, the author notes that the programmes of the ideological parties resembled those of the traditional ones except that the former were more severe in rivalry to the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) than the traditional parties.
"However, the election programmes of the political parties were not of any influence on the voting process because the voter used to determine his political position in accordance with a number of factors, including the candidate's sectarian leaning, tribal affiliation, his interaction with the social issues of his constituency and his fluency and charismatic ability of exciting the emotions of the public," Abushoak said.
Chapter Six, the last one, discussed the polling and the results of the elections. In this Chapter, the author reviewed the problems relevant to the voting cards, boxes, centers and timetable and the local and international observation in addition to suspicions over the fairness of the process and the positions of the political parties in favor of postponement and boycotting the elections. Then he reviewed the results of the elections- both executive and legislative- and the positions of the political parties towards the results.
In his analysis of the results of the elections, the author considered viewpoints of other analysts and he reached the following points:
-The Constitutional and Legal framework within which the 2010 national elections were organized was influenced by the power of the two partners of the CPA which placed the executive, legislative and judicial authorities in their hands, deriving their predominance from the legitimacy of the majority and military struggle.
-Consideration of the National Elections Commission in light of the complicated political and legal reality of the totalitarian regime which sought a political legitimacy that is compatible with the ceiling of the democratic values of the CPA.
-The early organizational activities by the NCP supporters
-Utilizing its mechanical majority in the National Assembly, the NCP managed to pass a constitutional and legal legislation limiting the voting right by the Sudanese working abroad in the presidential elections without covering the other executive and legislative elections.
-The NCP focused in its political communication and election campaigns on its achievement which it described as unprecedented including the oil exploration, implementation of Merowe Dam project, construction of dams and bridges, the CPA, etc.
-. The opposition political communication was poor and lacking in steadiness, sustainability, objectivity and organization.
In conclusion, the author spoke about his work, saying: "We do not allege that it contains conclusive solutions to the Sudanese problems but we table them for serious discussion and dialogue as only academic conclusions reached by this modest study which require further analysis and examination and a wider study by experts and specialists."
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