ICC indictee Haroun declared winner of South Kordofan polls as SPLM
asserts rejection
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May 15, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – North Sudan’s ruling National Congress
Party’s (NCP) candidate, Ahmad Haroun, has been officially declared
winner of gubernatorial elections in the country’s central state of
South Kordofan, as the main opposition Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement (SPLM) asserted its non-recognition of the result.
JPEG - 8.7 kb
South Kordofan’s governor, Ahmed Haroun, speaks to the press after
casting his vote during the election for governor and regional
assembly for the Sudanese oil-producing northern state in Kadugli on
May 2, 2011 (Getty Images)
The largely peaceful conduct of legislative and gubernatorial
elections in South Kordofan, which lies at the center of Sudan’s
north-south axis, was subsequently dented by disagreements during
vote-counting, leading to the withdrawal on Friday of the SPLM, which
claimed that the vote was rigged in favor of the NCP and its
candidate.
In a press conference in Khartoum on Sunday, the National Elections
Commission (NEC) announced that Haroun, who is wanted by the
International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of war crimes allegedly
committed in the country’s westernmost region of Darfur, defeated his
closest challenger and SPLM’s candidate Abdul Aziz Al-Hilu by 6,500
votes.
NEC, which administered the vote, also announced that the NCP had won
33 seats in the state’s legislative assembly whereas the SPLM won 21
seats.
According to the commission, the NCP won elections in 22 geographic
constituencies whereas the SPLM won in 10 constituencies. NEC further
said that the two rivals had evenly split women seats as well as eight
seats determined by proportional representation.
Abdullah Ahmad Abdullah, NEC’s deputy chairman, said that the result
was fair, expressing confidence that local and international observers
would attest to the integrity of the process.
Meanwhile, the United Nation Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), which was
established in 2005 to monitor the implementation of the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement (CPA) between North and South Sudan, welcomed the
completion of South Kordofan elections in a press release seen by
Sudan Tribune.
UNMIS said that the vote was conducted in a peaceful manner and
monitored by a large number of observers.
But the mission fell short of endorsing the result, saying that it did
not observe the elections but had provided logistical and technical
support. UNMIS went on to urge all parties “to continue to maintain
peace following the announcement of the results today,” adding that
complaints regarding the election process should be addressed through
legal means or dialogue.
Ahmad Haroun convened a press conference following the announcement of
the result at the NCP’s office in South kordofan’s town of Kadugli.
Haroun said he was keen on the inclusion of all political parties in
the government he intends to form.
“We hold out our hands in good faith to the SPLM to participate in the
next government,” Haroun said.
But the SPLM quickly dismissed the offer, vowing to resist the
“rigged” result. Qamar Dalman, the SPLM’s media secretary, said that
the SPLM remain committed to its position on rejecting the outcome. He
further said that the announcement of the “rigged” result had offended
all ethnic groups in South Kordofan, adding that the people of South
Kordofan would resist this outcome through peaceful means.
Dalman accused the NCP of playing on ethnic fault lines, calling on
the Nuba individuals within the NCP to reconsider their positions
because part of the struggle is moving on ethnic lines.
The heavily-militarized region of South Kordofan struggles the divide
between Arab tribes and Nuba population. South Kordofan saw fierce
battles during the protracted years of civil wars between north and
south Sudan, which ended with the signing of the CPA in 2005.
The state is crucial to the NCP because of its oilfields and proximity
to south Sudan, which voted in a referendum held in January to secede
from the north and form an independent state whose official birth is
due in July this year.
South Kordofan is meant to hold a plebiscite dubbed “popular
consultation” to decide whether the implementation of the CPA has
lived up to the aspiration of the state’s citizens. That vote should
take place before the CPA expires in July 2011.
(ST)
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