Sudan extends polls by a day over turnout

Voting interrupted in 160 centres by unrest and problems delivering voting material

Sudan extended nationwide elections by one day on Wednesday after a low turnout the opposition said reflected apathy towards a vote President Omar Al Bashir is widely expected to win.

The 71-year-old career soldier, indicted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, is seeking to extend his quarter-century rule virtually unopposed.

He faces 13 little-known challengers in an election boycotted by the mainstream opposition in the country of nearly 38 million people, the third most-populous state in the Arab world.

Two of the original 15 candidates for the presidency — independents Omar Awad Al Karim and Ahmad Radhi — said on Wednesday they were withdrawing from the vote after the extension.

Radhi said he was withdrawing “because of the many irregularities in the process”.

And Al Karim labelled the vote a “political farce” at a press conference in his home, also citing irregularities.

Since voting began on Monday, the elections for the presidency and for national and state parliaments have seen a poor turnout.

Polls had been due to close on Wednesday evening, but the National Electoral Commission announced they would stay open yesterday in all districts.

The extensions are to allow Sudanese “to choose their representatives in the national and state parliaments and the presidency of the republic,” NEC chief Mukhtar Al Asam told a press conference.

The opposition Umma Party, which is boycotting the vote, seized on the trickle of voters as a sign of disillusionment.

“It was expected the turnout would be like this, because it will bring no change,” said Umma deputy head Mariam Al Mahdi.

‘No competition’

“Al Bashir will sweep all the votes for the presidency. There is absolutely no competition in this election.”

Most opposition parties have called for a boycott, organising small sit-ins against the vote.

An activist detained as she was travelling to one such protest the day before polls opened was released on Wednesday, one of her colleagues said.

Sandra Kaduda was “released and returned to her home,” said Amal Habani, a journalist and activist close to the family.

Habani said Kaduda’s family would issue a statement about her detention later.

Security forces told her family they had no knowledge of her whereabouts, but Kaduda’s mother had said she was sure her daughter was being held by them.

Rights groups have accused Al Bashir’s government of using security forces to stifle dissent.

Al Bashir toppled a democratically elected government in a 1989 Islamist-backed coup and is Sudan’s longest-serving leader since independence.